Day 120: sliceable, eatable bliss
I’m sorry, but I have nothing in me today! I don’t know what’s up. My eyes and limbs are heavy and my thoughts are lost in a thick mass of fog, and I just can’t snap out of it. The enthusiasm is there, but I can’t get it to the surface. It’s like wading through quicksand. And odd and frustrating feeling! But all is well!
Anyway, instead of babbling on at you with writings likely to be full of mistakes, let’s jump straight into today’s pick. But, first, please know this: just writing those first few sentences down helped. It’s harder to struggle in silence, and I want you to promise me that you never will. Offload into the comments section below, if it helps. I’m not qualified to counsel, but I do know that just to get it out can lift a big weight off your shoulders. Be nice though, please :).
After making its squidgy-bellied puddingy cousin on Day 97, I vowed I’d make Nigella’s Chocolate, Tahini and Banana Bread, as soon as possible. Bananas are snapped up in this house before they get a chance to ripen; though now I remain eagle-eyed, ready to pounce on one at the first signs of advanced ripening, peeling and freezing it before it’s blended up in a smoothie or stirred through porridge. I also freeze the skins separately (go ahead and make Nigella’s Banana Skin and Cauliflower Curry - Day 98 with these!). Well, after three weeks, I’ve finally managed to accumulate enough frozen ripe banana to make this sesame-anointed bread version of the pud.
Nigella’s Chocolate, Tahini and Banana Bread
I’ve frozen bananas before but normally they get plonked straight in the blender for a smoother. For making this, however, I took them out the day before, defrosting them and keeping them overnight in the fridge (before, of course, bringing them to room temperature before baking!). They expelled a lot of liquid, but it was lovely and syrupy, so I mashed that together with the banana pieces and proceeded as instructed with the rest of the recipe.
I also used chopped dark chocolate bars. I seem to have acquired quite the collection of dark chocolate bars over the years; likely from buying them each time I come across a recipe that calls for plain dark chocolate, forgetting I still had one from the previous time. A lot of this is also a result of mid-shop meal planning when you decide you want to make something but you’re not sure if you have the ingredients. So, you pick it up and buy it anyway to save disappointment when you get home. Thus accumulating unnecessarily large quantities of particular ingredients. I have four unopened packets of dried mint in the cupboard, as well as one open that I’m still working my way through.
Flavour musings
For what you get at the end of its 45-minute bake, you would totally think there was some kind of magic at play; some complex stage in the mixing process perhaps. There really isn’t. It’s the result of dedicated testing by its creator to forge the perfect combination of flavours, ingredients, and ratios. The end result: sumptuous bliss.
The more toned, sesame-anointed cousin to the squidgy-bellied Chocolate, Tahini and Banana Pudding. It's deeply heavenly, and even more incentive to keep on top of my frozen overripe banana collection. You've done it again Nigella: you've made history!
