Wednesday 19 October 2016

Banana and Berry Loaf Cake




This cake is delicious. Sweet, moist and slightly tart. It is so moorish and not sickly sweet.
It is definitely best served straight from the oven, slightly warm dusted with icing sugar.
It does keep for a couple of days, but can go a bit soggy.
If you know you have guests coming round this is perfect. It can be demolished in one go and everyone gets to eat it at its best.

I am quite a frugal cook. I don't tend to go out and buy ingredients specifically to bake things. I like to use up what I have, or make use of old bananas. We grow berries in the garden and am fortunate enough to be given a good supply by friends and relatives. I get so many over the summer I actually have an entire drawer in the freezer dedicated to blueberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberries. So this is my go to cake if I want to use up some fruit.

Recipe:
For a standard 2 lb loaf cake tin.

2 overly ripe bananas mashed
175g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
100g baking margarine e.g. stork. (or softened unsalted butter).
1 tsp baking powder
2 free range eggs
Approx 100g Berries. You can use a mix of berries or stick to one kind. Blueberries are particularly great. Add them frozen if possible. It saves them breaking up when you mix. Or just add carefully.

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/Fan 160C.
2. Line your baking tin.
3. Measure all ingredients (apart from fruit) into a large mixing bowl and mix well. I use an electric hand whisk. But by hand is fine.
4. When all nicely mixed, gently stir in your fruit.
5. Add the mix to your prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 1 hour. Oven times vary. You may need 5-10 mins more. But if your skewer comes out clean it is cooked.
6. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
7. Best served warm from the oven lightly dusted with icing sugar.








Tuesday 18 October 2016

Sticky Steamed Honey, Soy and Ginger Salmon






We love Salmon in our house. Sometimes I love to cook it simply with lemon and salt and pepper. But other times I love a sweet and sticky oriental style marinade. I think the flavours go so well with this recipe and I always have the ingredients at home if I need to make it in a hurry.

I love this method of cooking it. Steaming really is minimum effort as promised. You bung it in the oven all wrapped up in foil and the salmon steams nicely inside. The flavours are so delicate and aromatic and it smells delicious. It only needs 20 mins to cook, which is plenty of time to get the veg on, lay the table and get any last minute jobs done before eating.

I particularly like the fact that you don't need to worry about it when it is in the oven. I always used to pan fry it, but it means you are constantly turning over or stirring. Steaming in foil also means less washing up. Lift the salmon out of the foil onto plates at the end. Throw away the foil and the dish should be completely clean underneath! 

Recipe (for 2 people)

2 salmon fillets 
light soy sauce
honey
chopped ginger (I buy frozen)
chopped garlic
chopped chilli * optional
a wedge of lemon
fresh coriander or parsley to serve
salt and pepper

*A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds on the top works a treat

Method:

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees (fan)
Line an oven proof dish with foil - overlap the dish so there is enough to cover the salmon to cook as well.
Place the salmon on the foil in the dish. 
Add a dash of soy sauce and honey. I use a pastry brush to disperse evenly. But a spoon is fine.
Sprinkle in the chopped ginger, garlic and chilli. I haven't specified qty as it really is to your personal taste.
Season well and squeeze with lemon. Sprinkle with half the required herbs. Save the rest for serving.
Scrunch the foil over the salmon making a tight package in order for the salmon to steam.



Place in the oven for approx 15-20 mins. 
If you like the top of your salmon to be nicely browned and caramelised. Open up the foil for the last 5 mins of cooking and turn up the oven. 

Serve with crunchy veg, or stir fried veg.

This is a seriously tasty, easy meal. I try to reduce the amount of carbs I eat in the evenings. As then I feel less guilty if I have a nibble of chocolate after dinner. 
So this is a perfect healthy mid week meal if you are also trying to reduce carbs.
If you need carbs or are serving it to your children, rice goes very well with it too.