Upside Down Banana Pudding - a warm and sticky treat !

Well - I'll admit I'm cheating a bit here. It's a few weeks since I made this - but then again, I have been terribly behind in blogging !

Pudding is something I rarely make. However, sometimes when it's cold and dark outside it's quite comforting to make and devour a good old fashioned English pud. It's sweet and syrupy. The hot bananas are lovely and the little alcohol hit from the plump sultanas was nice but not overpowering.

This recipe originates from OLIVE magazine last year and is posted on the BBC Good Food Website here.

Apologies for the photos - they really are not good. The lighting was dismal and everyone was waiting to eat it - including Oliver who was bouncing up and down like a puppy on a lead whilst yelping "Pudding, pudding, pudding!"

It was all I could do to keep the fabric on the kitchen side as he was so keen to get to this .... It's a miracle that somehow it did not land on the floor !

Ingredients

100g of sultanas
50ml of brandy or rum

5 large bananas

75g softened butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

175g self raising flour

60g of pecans*

1/2 tsp nutmeg*

1 tsp cinnamon*

8 tbsp golden syrup

I ommitted the nuts and upped the sultanas only because I didn't have any and the nutmeg and cinnamon were my own additions

Soak the sultanas in rum for 30mins. Actually, I used home made apple brandy and soaked them over night in more like 75ml.

Heat the oven to 160deg C or 140deg C if fan oven

Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. I actually used a 2lb silicone loaf mould. I did line the base with a strip of baking paper incase it needed a bit of help with all the golden syrup and bananas at the bottom. (Next time I really wouldn't worry as the bananas were nicely bedded into the sponge part and the syrupy stuff) just runs out.

Next, put in the golden syrup.

Slice two of the bananas lengthway and then cut in half across the middle. Lay the slices into the loaf tin or 2lb silicone loaf mould / mold. The bananas want to be face down and these will eventually become the top of your pudding.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and combine followed by vanilla, spices, flour and remaining bananas (mashed). Stir in the sultanas and then put the batter on top of the bananas

Bake for approx 50mins. Remove from oven and leave to stand for a few minutes before turning out.

Serve hot, as you like - with cream, ice cream or custard.

Not any good reheated on day two - so the chickens finished it. It's quite a good sized pud - easily serves six people.

Sarah-Jane Nash, December 2010 - siliconemoulds.com - the silicone bakeware specialist cook shop

Scottish Clootie Dumpling

Clootie Dumpling is a traditional Scottish fruit pudding. It's super served freshly made and hot on it's own or with custard. Also popular fried along with sausages on a Sunday morning. No wonder Scots have a history of heart disease...

Anyway - Clootie Dumpling gets it's name from the cloth it is cooked in. The prepared mix is put into a cotton cloth (pillowcase would do if that's all you have) and loosely tied with string to leave room for expansion. It is then put into a pot of boiling water and boiled for 4 hours. The pot will regularly need topping up with water to cover the dumpling.

Oliver and I went a trip up to Scotland last weekend to see my parents (his grand parents). Having recently had his birthday - there was a promise of clootie dumpling. I've not had clootie dumpling in years. My Gran (who is no longer with us unfortunately) used to make us a dumpling every birthday instead of cake as per our heritage tradition. Underneath our slice would be hidden our lucky coin (wrapped in either greaseproof paper or foil).

The recipe as follows belonged to my Gran and was passed to her by her mother (my great grandmother) - so dates back to around 1850.

Oliver helped his Nanny make the dumpling ! For once, I had no part in this other than in the eating. I'll apologise now - I couldn't get any photos in decent lighting in the kitchen...

Recipe for Clootie Dumpling - Jean Inglis Knights

4 cups plain flour

2 rounded teasp baking powder

pinch salt

100g suet

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons black treacle

2 teaspoons mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

400g currants

100g sultanas

mix with milk or water as required to combine

You want a really thick porridge like consistency - almost verging on dough. It's not like a bread dough - just mix well with a wooden spoon.

See the video and Oliver will show you how !

Wet the dumpling cloth and then flour it. Tip the dumpling mix onto the cloth. Gather, and tie loosely to leave room for expansion. Not really loose. The dumpling is going to get about 50% bigger and needs to fill the cloth. Too saggy, and you'll end up with a bag of gunge after cooking !

Here is a tied clootie....

Now - this needs to go into a large pot of boiling water and be regularly topped up. Cook for 4 hours.

After cooking, remove from pot and take off the cloth. The cloth can be washed and reused. My mum still uses my grandmother's cloth.

The outside will be pale and sticky. You now need to pop it into an oven at around 180deg C for a short time for the skin on the outside to dry off. As soon as the outside starts to dry and look a little leathery, it's ready to serve.

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

It's cold and snowing outside and I'm stuck at home with a poorly teething baby. He's not well enough to go to nursery and even Iggle Piggle can't keep him occupied any longer.

Oliver has decided to help Mummy with the washing ! I went to the bathroom and came back to a baby unloading dirty clothes out the washing machine. It was only AFTER I put the washing machine and turned it on that I realised it wasn't dirty washing he was removing. It was clean stuff I'd taken out the tumble drier from the basket - ready to fold and go upstairs.

What do you want when it's cold ? A nice roaring log fire and a comforting, warm pud in your tummy. Well - the stove is lit. I've got an Abbey - you can see it at http://www.naturalheating.co.uk/ - the one with the deep red chimney breast.

As for the pud - we'll - its even better as there is some store-cupboard standby stuff BEGGING to get used up before the big spring clean !

I figure my dearly beloved might like a nice hearty pudding today - so I'm making a Peach and Rasperry Crumble in my halogen oven. It's all prepared ready to pop in later.

RECIPE

You'll need :

plain flour (self raising will also do), butter, sugar, a couple of tins of tinned peaches and some frozen raspberries

I've got a 1 litre dish I use for things like this.

Put 2 tins of peaches (sliced or halves will do - just chop into chunks) into the dish and top with a good big handful of frozen raspberries.

Put in 3 or 4 tablespoon of reserved fruit juice from the peaches and sprinkle with a 1/2 dessertspoon of sugar.

Pre-heat the halogen oven for 3 > 4 minutes at 180deg C, then pop this in, uncovered for apprpx 10 mins

Whilst that's getting the fruit nice and hot, prepare the topping.

Standard crumble mix is 2 parts flour to one part butter and one part sugar

4 oz plain flour
2 oz sugar
2 oz cold butter

Rub these together until they form crumbs, then put on top of the fruit.

If you have any demerara sugar lying around in the cupboads - a sprinkling of this on the very top will give a nice crunch.

I've become a huge fan of halogen convection ovens. Everything cooks in a fraction of the time and they use so much less energy than a normal cooker. These will soon also be available on SiliconeMoulds.com and you should find all my Halogen cooker recipes and cooking times on there.

Here you can see the crumble is in the oven. I put mine in at 180deg for 20mins. Like a normal oven, you'll need oven gloves to get it out. It's hot in there !

That's it. Ready to serve !