Thank Bananas it's Friday

It's Friday again.....

At the start of the year I gave myself the random mission of making and using banana in as many meals as I possibly could before the end of December.  

I've not been feeling 100% this week, whenever I am rundown I crave comfort food.   Which is why I ended up making nothing but dessert recipes.

Angel Food cake served 

with Dairy free ice cream

and caramel banana's

There is no need to convert an Angel Food Cake  recipe as it's already dairy free.  Imagine a sponge cake crossed with a meringue, the result being a wonderfully light dessert cake.  Instead of making one large cake, I used my jumbo muffin tin to make mini versions.  

One of my rules is that I never cook with egg's unless there going to be the star of the recipe.  They also must  be Free range.  I am one of those annoying people that open the egg box to check the small print, just to make sure.  They taste better because the Hens are treated better.  

I diced 1/2 banana and mixed it with a tablespoon of dairy free caramel sauce. I left it sitting for 5 minutes while I plated my mini angel cake and topped it with some of my Swedish Glace Dairy free ice cream.

You might not think the caramel will mix with the banana, but just give it time. The juice from the bananas blends with the caramel to create a quick dessert topping.   It's a great easy recipe that you can use as a simple topping on ice cream to turn it into a dessert.  Or use it as a topping for dairy free cheesecake.

 Pasta for dessert

Might not look like it, however the picture above is sweet banana pasta bake.  Every culture has it's own strange food combination, that just sounds wrong. Here in the UK one of those is - Creamed macaroni.  It's made the same way as creamed rice pudding, except pasta is used instead of the rice.  

If you can eat pasta with a white carbonara or bechamel sauce, why not vanilla custard.  Or in this case Banana Custard.  This one is totally my own creation  xxx

Banana Custard pasta Bake

50g Dried Pasta per person

125 - 150 ml Dairy free Custard 

1/2 Banana per person

Optional: Raisins, almonds, pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon, chocolate chips. 

- Cook the pasta al dente, as it will continue to cook in the oven.  While it's cooking heat or make your own dairy free Custard.  

- (Bird's Traditional Custard powder is lactose free, just make it up with you usual dairy free milk substitute)

- Once the custard is cooked add the chopped or mashed banana and mix together well.  

- Drain the pasta and mix with the custard, then pour into a casserole dish.  (Add Optional ingredients)

 - Bake in a moderate oven for 20 Min's or until the top browns.  

I like the contrast of crunchy and soft pasta together, but it's not every ones cup of tea.  Cook the pasta as you would normally and mix with the warm custard, just as you would a savoury sauce.  Cook over a really low heat for a few Min's, either mix in the chopped banana or sprinkle on top.  

Serve up and enjoy, it one of those meals that screams at you it's totally wrong, but mmmm it did taste good xxx