This week, we had a day out in Skipton – antique centre visit, charity shop trawling, shopping and lunching. We stopped off in our usual coffee shop, down one of the pretty little side streets off the main drag. Justin had eggs Benedict and I went for the pancakes with caramelised bananas.
As soon as the food arrived, Justin wished he’d ordered what I’d ordered. Not that his eggs weren’t cooked to perfection – they were, It’s just that my pancakes looked magnificent!
I felt a little sorry for him so I decided that I’d make some cinnamon pancakes with caramelised bananas for this week’s Cakes & Bakes offering.
This pile should keep him going for a while!
The caramelised bananas were unctuous and sweet – and layered generously between the pancakes. Clotted or whipped cream makes for the perfect accompaniment.
It’s a great dish for extravagant brunch or hearty dessert.
Fancy trying it yourself? Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest.
- 200g/7oz self-raising flour
- 1½tsp baking powder
- ½tsp ground cinnamon
- 1tbsp golden caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- 3 eggs
- 25g/⅘oz butter, melted
- 200ml/fl oz milk
- A little butter or vegetable oil for cooking
- 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
- 60g/2oz soft brown sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 2tbsp hot water
- knob of butter
- Preheat the oven to 120ºC/250ºF/Gas mark ½
- In a large measuring jug (or mixing bowl), combine the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, caster sugar and salt Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, melted butter and milk. Mix well until there are no lumps
- Use a little butter or vegetable oil to grease a griddle or heavy-bottomed frying pan(s)
- Heat over a medium to high heat. When it begins to sizzle, carefully pour on the batter to form small circles of about 10cm/4" across
- When the top just begins to dry out around the edge flip it over and cook for a further minute
- Remove from the griddle/frying pan, place it on a heat-proof plate and put in the warm oven. Repeat this until all the batter is used up
- Put the sugar, vanilla extract and hot water into a heavy bottomed skillet frying pan over a high heat
- Allow it to begin bubbling rapidly before you add the sliced banana.
- Turn the banana over so that it's completely covered in the caramel
- Add the knob of butter and carefully mix in until completely melted and combined
- Serve hot with clotted or whipped cream
Who’s heard of dock pudding?
Have you ever heard of dock pudding? I hadn’t until this year. It’s a pudding – if you can call it that – that’s very particular to our neck of the woods and this time of year.
It’s a local, Calder Valley dish made of dock leaves, nettles, spring onions and oats – and is traditionally fried in bacon fat. The name ‘dock pudding’ is pretty misleading, not only is it not what you’d consider a pudding, it’s made using Persicaria bistorta. More commonly known as bistort, common bistort, European bistort, meadow bistort, gentle dock or passion dock.
It does however, grow alongside what we commonly know as dock – Rumex obtusifolius – or bitter dock, broad-leaved dock, bluntleaf dock, dock leaf or butter dock. Bistort is quite a bit smaller than dock. I’ve included a photo I took to help you identify the difference. If you’re still not sure about it, wait until June or July when bistort is in bloom. You can’t miss its pretty pink flowers shaped like cotton buds.
There’s a World Dock Pudding Championship founded in 1971 and held annually in Mytholmroyd. It took place just last weekend. During the Second World War, William Brooke Joyce, the last man to be hanged in Britain for treason, mistakenly believed that the people of Yorkshire were starving due to food rationing and were resorting to eating grass. In fact, they were simply enjoying their dock pudding!
I used the recipe from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore and used a metal ring to mould them into perfect rounds. I had mine as a vegetarian option; served on a hash brown with runny egg sitting atop that. Justin had his served with the crispy bacon and egg – his dock pudding fried in bacon fat. We can honestly say that it was really delicious in both dishes. Justin had it again with a full English breakfast and says that in addition to the bacon and egg, it combines well with all other options like sausage, mushroom, tomato, potatoes, fried bread and toast. Dock pudding is a real winner – not only is it naturally foraged, very healthy and virtually cost free – the flavour really enhances dishes. As said, it’s great with breakfast ingredients, but could be used for all manner of other starter dishes and light lunches – or as a main course accompaniment.
- 1 quart snakeweed leaves
- 1pint young nettle tops
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 handful oatmeal
- small knob of butter
- bacon fat
- Clean and remove the thick stalks from the docks and nettles and boil with the onions in a little water until tender
- Add some seasoning and sprinkle in the oatmeal
- Boil again for 10 minutes, stirring all the time
- Add the butter
- Leave overnight
- Next day, fry large spoonfuls of the mixture in hot bacon fat and serve with bacon
- Don't forget to wear protective gloves when picking the stinging nettles and make sure you forage in a place where dogs aren't able to cock their leg!
Gimme Five! Egg cups
We’re currently on a mission. Justin’s mum has asked us to keep an eye out for some egg cups. No real instructions regarding style or material. They don’t even have to match. A flexible brief you could say!
We’ve started by browsing some of the internet offerings and decided to make it into our Gimme Five for this week.
- 4 x Martin Wiscombe spotty egg cups: £13.30, Tesco
- Egg cosy set: £22, H is for Home
- Berså egg cup: £27, Royal Design
- Acapulco design egg cup by Villeroy and Boch: £5.79 each, Etsy
- 4 x Scion Mr Fox egg cups: £15, John Lewis
Etsy List: Sunny side up
How do you like your eggs? I like mine sunny side up. But I don’t like them runny. Does that mean that I like them over easy? Do we call it that in the UK or is that just a US thing?
Chez H is for Home we often discuss if we could only live on one foodstuff for the rest of our lives, what it would be (yes, weird, I know!). I always say that I could eat noodles every day but thinking about it, that would get a bit boring after about week 8. Eggs would be such a better choice! When I get fed up of sunny side up, there’s always soft boiled, hard boiled, scrambled, poached, coddled, baked… they can even be made into an omelette. That’s it decided – eggs are my new mono-meal! What would yours be?
Sunny side up
Curated by H is for Home
