Lady Lunchalot

Yesterday I realised that I am a woman of contradictions.

After a very successful day at work in which I sold a nicely-sized piece of business, all I could think about were Stuart’s figs. I have been keeping a very close eye on the fig tree in his back yard for weeks now, and a couple of days ago I received a call telling me that they were all but falling off the tree with squishy goodness and that I had better get to them before the birds did.

Fig Jam was on the horizon.

So after my last meeting I called Stu and told him I was going over to his place to raid the fig tree.

He wasn’t home yet when I arrived, but I knew where the ladder was, so I pulled it out of the shed (with the dubious help of his two enthusiastic kelpie puppies) and proceeded to climb up into the tree line… yes, wearing my suit and high heels.

While I was up in the branches my phone rang with a work call or two, and I found myself up a ladder picking figs while dressed in a business suit and heels, fighting off the puppies and speaking to a client.

Hmmm…

Anyway, I made the Fig and Cinnamon Jam last night. My haul from Stuart’s place yielded about 2kg of fresh figs, which boiled down into two jars of jam once I removed the skins (at O’s suggestion). This recipe was inspired from one of my favourite Melbourne food blogs, Tummy Rumbles.

Thanks for the figs Stu-bear! You’ve got a jar coming your way soon.

Bananas are finally back on the shelves in Australia after Cyclone Larry went nuts through the top end and rendered our country bananaless for most of 2006. In celebration of the return of the prodigal ‘nana, I’ve invited food bloggers to make a banana creation and send in their banana recipes to the Lady Lunchalot Bananafest.

Here’s what everyone came up with.

Totally Addicted to… Banana Fritters!

An early entry was from Adam from Totally Addicted to Taste. He’s been testing out his new deep fryer with some banana fritters in a beer batter drizzled with golden syrup. Well smother me in batter and call me a fritter… now there’s a dish that would make any banana bender proud!

Kitchen Hand’s Tribute to Queensland
Kitchen Hand from What I Cooked Last Night has gone all out with a banana barbecue recipe inspired by the Sunshine State. Marinating grilled bananas in maple syrup, dark rum, sugar and spices is a stroke of genius. I can’t wait to try this one!

PWMU Banana Cake

Cindy from Where’s the Beef put a modern twist on a tried and true classic with a traditional banana cake recipe, straight from the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union Recipe book, first published in 1904. With a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in one half of the batch, and chunks of Lindt chocolate in the other, these banana beauties are bound to be a winner.

Easy Banana and Coconut Cake

Claire from Esurientes has been hanging out to make this banana cake recipe since before Cyclone Larry hit. She tore the recipe from New Idea magazine JUST before Larry flexed his muscles, and has been waiting nearly a year to make it. She says it was quite nice, but nothing to wait out a cyclone for, but it sounds pretty good to me.

Best Friend Banana Bread

Claire from Cooking is Medicine has baked a batch of banana bread in honour of her best friend Sarah, who gave her the book where the recipe came from. Sarah says that banana bread is one of those homey things that she loves to make. I completely agree. I couldn’t think of a better way to use up old bananas!

Ginger Banana Cake

Red Dirt Mummy went all out with a recipe that smacks of north Queensland. She swears that her Ginger Banana Cake won’t have a chance to go stale. I looove ginger, so this is one I’m definitely looking forward to trying out.

Banana and Blueberry Stuffed French Toast and French-Toasted Chocolate and Banana Sandwiches

Cathy from BurntSugar sent in a double-whammy, showing us just how versatile the humble banana can be. Her bananalicious take on two versions of French Toast were simply ooh-la-la! Have a bite of each and you can be a saint and a sinner all at once.

Rebekah’s Banana Choc Chip Muffins
Next up is a treat from my blogless sister-in-law and baker extraordinaire, Rebekah. She says it’s one of those simple throw-everything-in-a-bowl recipes that you can whip up and share with friends who just love to ‘pop-in’. Goes so yummy with a home-made cappuccino… Beck is a bit of a whiz with her coffee machine. Just ask my husband!

INGREDIENTS
2½ cups (375g) self-raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
¾ cup (170g) sugar
½ cup (95g) milk chocolate chips
1 cup (250ml) milk
¾ cup (185ml) vegetable oil
1 egg
2 small over-ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper muffin cases.

In a large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, sugar and choc chips. Add combined milk, oil, egg and banana. Stir until just combined. Divide mixture between prepared muffin pan. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Cool in pan 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Eat while still warm, or cold.

Store in an airtight container up to 5 days. Muffins are best warmed before eating once they’re a couple of days old.

Lady Lunchalot’s Spiced Banana Dreamy Ice Creamy

To wrap up the occasion, we’ve got my own spiced banana ice cream. It’s a rich, bananary and creamy mixture of egg yolks, cream, bananas (of course), brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise and cardamom. You start off by bringing all the ingredients except the egg yolk to the boil and then mixing in about 5 or 6 yolks to make a custard. Let it cool and then churn it through the ice cream maker, Delish!

Thanks to everyone who took part in Banana Sunday and helped Australia’s banana industry get back on its feet.

I decided to stick closely to the Banana Sunday theme and go wild with the new ice cream maker.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 mashed bananas
• two cinnamon sticks
• a sprinkle of nutmeg
• a few whole cloves
• a few cardamom pods
• a star anise
• half a cup of brown sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• One third of a cup of real maple syrup

Mix all the ingredients except the egg yolk in a big saucepan and bring to the boil while stirring. After it has come to the boil, take it off the heat, cover and let it sit for a while. This will elt the spices infuse their flavour into the mixture.

Next, beat the six egg yolks together in a big heatproof bowl and gradually mix in the cream mixture while constantly stirring. You don’t want the heat from the cream to cook the egg yolks. Pour the lot back into the big saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly. Eventually the mixture will form a bananary custard and be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Next, strain the mixture through some muslin or a fine sieve. Throw away the solid banana muck. Put the liquid in the fridge until totally cool. Churn in your icecream maker until it’s delicious and creamy!