Cookery Book Club June - MN Top Bananas! And Nigella's Summer

[Pantah630]

An early thread thanks to MNHQ generosity, the first lucky few in May managed to procure a gratis copy of the new MN cookbook, Top Banana's. At first glance it's looking good. We're also cooking from the modern classic that is Nigella's Summer.

Let the sun shine and the outdoor eating begin

Mntb banana pancakes fir breakfast - absolute hit with the dc! Not an eyelid batted by my fruit hating 5 yr old I will make them weekly if it gets a bit of fruit in her

Dd who is 11 made the burgers from top bananas tonight she found them easy to make and they tasted delicious.
Yesterday we had the summer fruit crumble from forever summer, this was also made by Dd she cut down on the sugar 3 tbs instead of 75g and also some of the butter 60g instead of 75g.
Will try the beef staffido this week is it a slow cooker recipe? As I don't have one.

MNTB Courgette fritters tonight, very tasty but they do need a fair amount of seasoning. Go well with MME Guacamole.

At DD2s request we made the Top Bananas chocolate cake - it's just a straightforward choc sponge with cocoa powder. Nothing exciting - just v basic recipe for choc cake - prefer Nigella's richer versions but then I would!

Pantah, the courgette fritters in Nigella's forever summer are really nice - I recommend those.

Will try those next, I love fritters, ever since we did Smitten Kitchen

I made the Top Bananas brownies at the weekend, they are really lovely. But I don't have a brownie recipe already, so nothing to compare against..... I didn't add the nuts, as I don't like my brownies crunchy; nor did I add the extra chocolate on top, as I didn't think it needed it.
I was a bit at the ingredients - two large bars of plain chocolate, nearly a whole block of butter etc etc for 12 brownies?!? But actually, I cut mine up bitesize, like the supermarket ones, and got more than 40, so it didn't seem so bad. Still scoffed the lot just as quickly

Also made the potato latkes, which were so-so, the only thing I would say is that the ones that were kept warm in the oven, whilst waiting for the others to cook, had a nicer texture.

Oh, also made the butternut squash and red onion soup. Very nice, exceedingly sweet, but think that is an issue with my tastebuds, not the recipe!! I fried some sage in the oil for the onions first, to give a bit more flavour, and added some chilli flakes at the end.

Enjoying this!
Oh, and I succumbed to the 1p Nigella, so shall have a look at that soon.... the courgette fritters sound good, as do those aubergine rolls - seem similar to the courgette ones in Greedy Italians?

:)

Reading through previous comments, and MadameCake reminded me - far too much water in the butternut soup! I was cautious and only added 3/4 litre, this was plenty

Huevos, the aubergine rolls are nice but a bit fiddly. The courgette fritters are super quick and easy. Love Nigella's book - need to get it out again.

The stifado was good but needed to be a bit more tomatoey for me, think I'll add a tin of toms and more beef next time, only had 400g. I added half a cup of water 3/4 way through as there was hardly any juices left and I didn't want it to go dry. We had it with spaghetti and peas and a good helping of keflatori cheese over, yummy.

Made salmon espagnol from top bananas last night. I have to admit that my expectations were low, but DH and I both really liked it. There are leftovers, which I am planning to serve to the DDs tonight.

Still not keen on the name of the book though!

I don't like the name either Science!

Kleftiko here tonight- looking forward to it as it's miserable and wet here so slow cooked lamb sounds perfect!

Made homity pie last night. One word : SEASONING. It was very bland but it worked welldespite this. Maybe some curry powder next time? I have leftovers, if it's good cold then I would take it on a naice picnic.

Homity pie is on my to do list this week, thanks for the tip re seasoning. I'd never heard of it before and we had some at a hospitality do last week, was very nice but needed leeks and maybe some mustard powder adding. Then DH had it at Lulworth a couple of days later, again needed a bit extra, maybe a stronger cheddar. Will have a play with it and let you know.

Made the soda bread from mntb- very quick and lovely warm with a bit if butter dipped into a soup- which incidentally was the mntb simple veg soup- I was very generous with the white pepper and both me and dc enjoyed it- but it was almost bland, only the pepper took it over to tasty iykwim. And for me, it was on the watery end- no, that's harsh, but perhaps a thinner, drinking soup, whereas I prefer a nice thick soup- more lentils next time and it'll be on the money imo

Quick update on the salmon espagnol: the DDs liked it! Dd1 wolfed it down, dd2 needed a little more persuading but then decided she did like it after all. Excellent news

Good to hear on the salmon science- it's a contender for the pause house Thursday dinner.

I'm finding mntb great, an everyday, fits with what I've got in cookbook.

Hope it goes down as well in your house, pregnant!

Did the slightly spicy one pot chicken tonight. Initially, I was really unsure. I think I thought it should taste a bit like kedgeree but the bacon threw me off. But as I continued eating it, it kind of grew on me and I ended up rather liking it. DH loved it straight away!

Made the courgette fritters from Nigella FS this week and they were great, have made them before though. I also love the Keralan fish curry but will try the three fishes with herb salsa and passion fruit shortcakes this weekend as haven't given them a go before.

I can't get the MNTB book where I live but I have tried the online recipes, all tasty, especially the dhal but that recipe seems to have disappeared.. I liked the hands off pasta sauce method as I've only ever made it on the stove.

Nigella's fritters are really nice.

Well the kleftiko tasted good - lamb was meltingly tender and the sauce tasty. It didn't taste like kleftiko exactly and I would prefer more spice but it was nice and a v easy slow cooker recipe.

I made the banana pancakes for breakfast the other day. I followed the instructions completely, but the mixture was too runny. I think my eggs might have been a bit large, so for next time I will either use medium eggs or add the milk a bit at a time to get the right consistency.

Howevever, the plates were licked clean, so they went down well. Personally, I didn't like the texture of the cooked banana, but that's just me. I think next time I will use apple, raisins and a little cinnamon and see how that goes.

I think they would also be good as a savoury pancake with crispy pancetta, or chopped veg for lunch.

Would anyone mind typing out the banana pancake recipe for me please? I have some over ripe bananas to use up.

Thanks

Had Nigellas pink seared lamb on bulgar salad this afternoon, lamb cooked on the BBQ it was delicious, I toned down the chilli and wouldn't next time, the lime dressing is lovely and could have supported the heat from a whole chilli.

Impromptu no stir risotto here as I was in for half an hour before going out again for 3 tonight. Cooked on low as wouldn't be back in 2hrs, disappointed as really claggy, taste was ok but needed extra seasoning and more stock. Easy to add extra stock the traditional way but not in a slow cooker. If I try again for the correct time, I'd definitely add a glass of wine, it needs it :)

ipanema 225g plain flour, 1tsp baking powder, 300ml milk, 2 eggs lightly beaten, pinch of caster sugar, salt, 2 ripe bananas sliced, 1tbsp unsalted butter plus honey, maple syrup, chocolate spread to serve

Whisk flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, sugar and a punch of salt together until mixture is smooth. When lump free, gently fold in the bananas.

Melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan and, when sizzling (don't let it brown or burn), spoon ladlefuls of batter into the pan in pancake shaped splodges, making sure each one has at least two slices of banana in.

Once bubbles have risen to the surface, flip them over. When both sides are golden brown, they're ready to eat. Keep warm in a preheated oven 150c, 130c fan, gas mark 2.

Thank you pantah. I think I'll go and search out some proper milk as a treat, rather than the UHT stuff I normally buy here.

I've had the Nigella Summer book for years, but actually looking through it again, there is a lot I haven't tried

Made the Cowgirl Stew from MN book which was tasty. T cheated and instead of chopped tomatoes put a bottle of soffrito instead.
Attempted the chocolate brownies by only using the local Esso and they had no dark chocolate. Surprised by this I can remember my Grandad enjoying cadburys bourneville chocolate from local shop. There was aisles of chocolate none of it dark so used milk chocolate instead with salted butter, absolutely vile. Threw it all away, don't think anybody be so daft as to do this. Chocolate is not just chocolate after all. On the plus side those Esso shelves won't seem so appealing now!
Still awaiting the Nigella ordered for 1p off amazon, mind you still waiting for summer here, lots of rain today.