Bacon & Banana Bread Toastie (with Chocolate)

In a lifetime of culinary expeditions into the unknown, this has got to be one of the most bizarre I have ever undertaken on your behalf - egged on by Miss Hannah Cave. It started harmlessly enough with a conversation the other day about me going out to buy bread - all I had in the house was a new loaf of Hannah's renowned banana bread (with sultanas).

I mused that I could try it, done on my toastie machine, with a savoury filling like bacon. Miss Cave piped up that I could spread the bread with chocolate - she'd heard (she claimed) that bacon & the produce of the cocoa bean went well together....... She even added that I would have to wrap the sandwich in greaseproof paper to prevent it from sticking.

I got the impression that she'd not just thought of this! Fresh out of baking parchment or similar, I had to curb my enthusiasm until today, after I'd been to the supermarket.

VERDICT:
Very interesting flavours!
Would I try it again?
Yes - with one proviso: it was very very sweet - I used a (milk) chocolate and hazelnut spread out of a jar; next time I'm going to make it with a bitter dark chocolate (and maybe some chilli) to enhance the flavour of the bacon and counteract the banana's natural sugars.

Bacon & Brie Bread & Butter Pudding

So simple, but oh so tasty!

Grease a small pie tin and line with 2 slices of stale bread and butter, cut into quarters.

In the meanwhile, cook one rasher of bacon to crispy and cut into small pieces.

 Whisk one medium egg with a heaped dstsp of creme fraiche.

Cover the bread and butter with approximately 2oz of sliced brie.Scatter with the bacon.

Pour over the egg and creme fraiche mix......

.....and sprinkle with a small handful of grated cheddar.

Bake in a very hot oven for about 15 minutes......

......and eat!

Bon appetit!

Cheesy Beans & Poached Egg

 

 Comfort food for this icy snap, sure - but with a little twist of my own! I've used butter beans - approximately 2 handfuls - in a simple tomato sauce of passata, tomato purée, a little water, S+P and sugar to taste, and then thickened with instant cheese sauce granules. Pile on to thick buttered toast, sprinkle with mature cheddar, under the grill to melt the cheese and top with a poached egg. 

 Lunchtime or Supper - take your pick!

Persian Chicken

This dish was inspired by one of my foodie friends on Facebook, Sarah Thomas (a.k.a Lady T), who announced on Friday that she was going to make Persian Chicken the following night, with sour cherries. I googled and came up with various recipes which bore no resemblance to one another. This one particularly, on the BBC website, is sooo not Persian in feel! (BBC Good Food Recipes)


I love the Middle-eastern method of mixing meat with fruit and nuts, so that was my starting point; I deliberately decided to omit garlic - but succumbed slightly and added a little to the vegetable couscous!

For the marinade:

Mix together 50 ml olive oil with 1 dstsp lemon curd,  1 dstsp honey, 2 dstsp lemon juice, 1 scant tsp paprika, 1 tsp of ginger purée, 1 heaped tsp of turmeric and the same of cumin. I added just a pinch each of S+P. 

Marinate one chicken breast per person for at least 6 hours - overnight would be better, I think.

To cook: 

Soften a handful of chopped onion in butter and oil and set aside; in the same pan sauté the drained chicken breasts - retaining the marinade - and when the meat starts to colour return the onions to the pan, together with 2 small lemons in thickish slices, and 2 small handfuls of dates (dried). Stir in the marinade, together with 3 dstsp yoghurt and 2 dstsp honey. 

Heat through and scatter with a handful each of flaked almonds and walnut pieces, before baking in a very hot oven for 10 minutes.

Hannah and I had ours with vegetable couscous and salad.

To make, mix the couscous with hot water and leave to stand for about 5 minutes; I gently fried a little chopped onion, courgette, leek, peppers and broccoli florets with 1 tsp chopped garlic and a tbsp of dried mixed fruit in butter and oil, before mixing in the fluffed-up couscous.

My effort may not have been as aromatic as Sarah's, which included sour cherries, preserved lemons and pomegranate molasses - but it was pretty damn' tasty!

Allergic to Indigestible Red Tape

I am sick to the back teeth of  well-paid, fat-cat charity officials dumping more and more of their pet excrement on hard-pressed restaurateurs! (Big Hospitality, 25th January 2012)

What on earth is wrong with allergy-suffers simply opening their mouths before placing their order and asking if a particular dish contains something harmful to them? Instead of bleating for more legislation, why don't these charity saints do something useful - like producing fact-sheets they can mail to every food outlet in the country? Might keep them quiet for a bit!

Leek & Dolcelatte Pasta Gratin

Take two small handfuls of chopped leeks and two spring onions; sweat in a little butter and oil to soften. Mix with 200ml of leek & potato soup - mine was leftover home-made - and bring to the boil.

Add 50g of Dolcelatte and 1 dstsp creme fraiche. When thoroughly combined, add four big handfuls of penne or macaroni cooked to al dente.

Transfer to an oven-proof dish and sprinkle on 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs. Bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes.

Exercising a hobby-horse called "Discretion"

I never know whether to be saddened or comforted when I read that the USA has similar problems with "Nanny" over drink-related matters as here in Britain. (Serious Eats, 12th January 2012).

In many - possibly most - areas now civilised people can't have a slug of wine with a picnic......