Lady Lunchalot

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.