I wasn't allowed to work for the first few months that I lived in the UK.  Having arrived on a Fiance's visa, I had to wait for an employment visa before I could actually apply for a job.  We lived in a very small ground floor Maisonette apartment, which had a small kitchen, a bedroom, a lounge and a bathroom. 

 

Cleaning and tidying that didn't take a lot of time, to say the least.  

While my husband was at work, I used to enjoy a variety of cooking shows on the television at the time.  One of those was Ready Steady Cook.  It involved a host (Ainsley Harriot), two celebrity chefs and two guests.  

The guests would bring in a mystery bag of ingredients and the chefs would have to make as many dishes as they could from what was in the bag in an allotted length of time.  

 

That was exactly how I liked to cook . . .  take a pile of ingredients and then see what I could do with them!  Another show I enjoyed was Great British Classics, starring the late chef, Gary Rhodes.  

I was really keen to learn what British food and cookery was all about and he epitomised the very best for me.  I liked his style so much that the first Christmas Todd and I spent together, I asked him for the same entitled cookery book by Gary Rhodes. 

 

Gary Rhodes and Delia Smith became my culinary mentors when I first moved to the UK.  I learnt a lot from them and from these basic books!!

 

This Banana Loaf recipe comes from Gary's book.  

 

I had bought in a bunch of fresh fruit prior to Christmas Day.  I wanted the Missionaries to have a bit of choice while we were all waiting for dinner to be ready for eating. 

 Needless to say, a lot of it didn't get eating and so today I found myself with some ripe bananas which needed using up. 

 

I remembered this Banana & Golden Syrup Loaf in Gary's book and decided to try it out. 

 

Its an all in one recipe where you just bung everything into a bowl, beat it all together and then pour the  batter into a pan and bake.

 

After having cooked two large meals this week, I wasn't much in the mood for cooking anything very involved, so it suited me to a "T". 

 

The end result was an incredibly squidgy, moist banana loaf! 

 

The golden syrup lends a bit of a caramel/butterscotch flavour to the loaf. If you can't find golden syrup, you can just use corn syrup. 

It will work well but might not have the same caramel like flavour. 

 

  This tasty loaf doesn't have a lot of fat in it. The mashed bananas replace some of the fat in the recipe.  It doesn't rise really high either.  

At first, I thought it has fallen, but when I cut into it, I realized that it hadn't.  It's just a somewhat flattish squidgy loaf. 

 

We like to enjoy our banana breads warm and spread with cold butter . . .  doesn't everyone?? 

  

It was really quite a nice loaf.  My favourite banana loaf is still going to be my Sour Cream Banana Loaf, but this one is not too shabby at all! 

 

Over-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl always spell Banana Bread to me!  May it ever be so!  Bon Appetit! 

 

Having prepared two fairly large roast dinners over Christmas, I found myself with a fair amount of leftover cooked vegetables. Recipes like this are a doddle, and a great way of using up some of that excess!

 

I had leftover roast potatoes, leftover cooked carrots, cooked Brussels Sprouts, cooked swede/rutabaga and cooked sweet potatoes. I also had a few leftover rolls and some Yorkshire puddings, plus a variety of meat.  We had ham on one day and beef on the next.

 

One of the great things about meals like this is that you can tailor them to however many people you are wanting to feed.

 

I plan on 1 small onion, peeled and chopped, one small Yorkshire pudding or 1/2 dinner roll and 1 cup of vegetables per person. 

 

I melt a knob of butter in a heavy skillet.  A knob of butter is butter about the size of a whole walnut, or a heaped TBS.  

Once that is melted and is foaming hot, I drop in the chopped onion and the dinner roll which I have cubed.  I just stir them around until the bread starts to crisp up and the onion is beginning to soften.

 

That's when I throw in the rest of the vegetables that I have prepared.  I will cut the potato (s) into cubes, along with the parsnips, the carrots can be left the size they were when you cooked them, or if very large, also cubed. 

 

I quartered the sprouts . . . mmmm . . .  sprouts fried in butter, you can't go wrong! 

 

A smattering of seasoning to taste . .  . take it easy on the salt, and add as much pepper as you like.  We like pepper, so probably use a fair bit of that.

 

I also like to add some herbs.  Dried thyme, marjoram . . .  sage, rosemary . . .  they are all favourites, and go very well in things like this.  You don't need a lot, just a touch . . . 

 

You just cook and stir it all in the pan with the butter, onion and bread . . .  until the veg starts to gild a bit  . . .  crisp in spots here and there . . . 

 

You want it well heated through  . . .  but you don't want it over-cooked. I like to maintain a bit of the crispy crunch of the sprouts and carrots  . . .  it is a matter of taste I suppose! 

  

I had leftover ham, which I just sliced and cooked in a bit of butter on the side . . .  until golden edged.  I also had some mashed swede that I heated up.  Altogether this was deliciously satisfying! 

 

I think meals made with leftovers are my favourite kinds of meals.  I am the Queen of using up leftovers!  I took these photos with my new camera. Its a Canon. My very first Canon. The jury is still out at the moment on this.  Bon Appetit! 

 

The recipe I am sharing today makes a delicious side dish for those special occasions when you want to pull the boat out a tiny bit. 

 

Its perfect for special occasions, holiday meals, company dinners and yes, even pot luck buffets.  (I guarantee you will come home with an empty dish!)

 

Best of all it doesn't require any special ingredients, with exception of perhaps the prepared horseradish . . . . but, if you are like me, this is a store cupboard ingredient, so you will most likely have it in your refrigerator or cupboard anyways. (Here's hoping!)

 

Carrots are a well loved vegetable, but they can get boring at times I guess.  Mine never are, but I always add a knob of butter, a smidgen of sugar and some freshly grated nutmeg to enhance their natural flavour.  (That is the secret to never boring carrots.) 

 

This tasty dish goes beyond that however!  It is so simple to make that even a child could do it. You simply peel, slice and cook your carrots until crispy tender.  (About 7 minutes in boiling lightly salted water.  Drain them really well and return them to the pot, season lightly with salt and pepper,  and give them a good shake over the residual heat from your burner to dry them off even more. 

 

Whisk together some mayonnaise (yes, mayonnaise),  prepared horseradish sauce, grated onion and that's it.  Stir this mixture into the carrots and then pour them into a buttered casserole dish. 

 

I like to use a large  shallow baking dish myself, so you can spread them out a bit, giving you more area to turn golden . . .

  

A simple topping of grated strong cheddar cheese and some ritz cracker crumbs finish it off.  If your casserole dish is really large you could double the cheese and crackers as you will have a larger surface area to crisp up.

 

You bang it all into a moderate oven  . . . . 

 

Half an hour later and Bob's your uncle.  Your carrots are done, scrumptiously gilded, and ready to eat.

 

The sauce is rich and slightly peppery punchy, but not overwhelmingly so  . . .  it goes wonderfully with the sweetness of the carrots . . .

 

You've got the richness of that cheese topping and the crunch from the cracker crumbs  . . .

  

I cannot think of any roast dinner these wouldn't go with, however we really like them with Ham, which makes them perfect for New Years and Easter.  Just saying  . . .

 

Another thing I really love about this dish is you can cook the carrots, and throw them together with the saucy ingredients and pile them into a casserole dish a day or so before you need them, ready to top and bake on the day.  Easy peasy!  Make ahead!  Delicious!  What more could you want!  Bon Appetit! 

 

I was checking through my archives and couldn't believe that I had not shared a recipe for a Traditional English Trifle with you.  

 

After all these years I thought it was about time I did, so here we go!  Its not as hard to make as one would suppose actually.  Its really quite easy.

 

You can use slices of jelly roll for the bottom layer, if you wish, or even pound/Madeira cake, spread with jam.  What you want it a sturdy kind of a plain cake that will hold up well and absorb the sherry or fruit juice.  

 

These get laid on the bottom of the dish. You can also use trifle sponges, which you would split and spread with jam. Myself, I prefer the cake.

 

You sprinkle that with the sherry/juice and let it soak in. On top of that goes a layer of fruit.  Some people use banana, or strawberries.  

 

I have used drained fruit cocktail on occasion. My favourite thing to use are fresh  raspberries and blackberries if you can get them.  

The next layer is not exactly traditional, but something I love. This is something you will see in a lot of trifles and in almost every ready made trifle pot I have purchased and that is a layer of jelly/jello.  

 

You just make it up as per the package directions and then pour it over the fruit and cake, then pop it into the refrigerator to chill while you make the custard. 

 

You can use ready made custard, or make the custard from scratch.  Either are acceptable, but I do have to say I much prefer making my own, but then again I like to putter.  

 

Make your custard, let it cool to room temperature and then pour it over the set jelly. 

  

And that's it!  Other than making the whipped topping to spread on top and then garnishing it with more berries and some toasted almonds, your trifle is done.  

 

I prefer to make the topping as close to serving the trifle as possible.  It is made by whipping cream and egg whites together.  If you will be serving it to any elderly or very young people, use pasteurised egg whites. (You can find these in the chiller section of the grocery shop.)  

 

Of course you can leave the egg whites out entirely and just use twice as much cream.   Either way is acceptable.  Enjoy!!

 

This will be the last recipe that I am sharing with you prior to Christmas.  I do have a multitude of recipes on site for you to choose from, just put a search in the side column if you are looking for something in particular.  I do have many other trifle recipes should you be looking for another one, including a  delicious Pear and Ginger Trifle,  a fabulous Turkish Delight Trifle, and Christmas Pudding Trifles.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!  May it be filled with all the things that you love.  We have guests on both Christmas and Boxing days, so the kitchen will now be closed until the 27th.  Have a brilliant holiday!  God bless!

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