I have a lot of frozen half-bananas in the freezer.
Invariably, they ripen faster than I can eat them, so I peel them, cut them in half, and then stick them in a freezer bag. The idea is that when I make a smoothie, I can pop in one or two half bananas, still frozen. Because they are very ripe at the point of freezing, they are full of banana-ey flavour.
The idea is sound. The reality - not so much. I've had very few smoothies, the weather just hasn't been conducive to it. Knowing that I had a small banana stash in the freezer somehow affected my ability to eat the last bunch of bananas at all, so my small stash became something of a mountain.
I stopped buying bananas. I stopped opening that drawer of the freezer, which wasn't difficult as that drawer contains packets of puff pastry, some frozen homemade lollies (with home grown fruit) and various other bits and pieces. It rarely gets opened.
However, I opened it the other day, trying to find somewhere to store a large shop-bought bag of ice which is needed for tomorrow (Friday). I looked at the sad little bananas, and decided that I was going to use them. Some of them, at least, This week.
So today I decide to make banana bread. Marguerite Patten helpfully provides the weight of bananas including their skins. I looked at my frozen objects, and decided that I would use 3/4 of the quantity specified. I weighed them out and left them in a bowl to defrost.
Of course they turned to mush. Mush and brown water. I was undeterred. The recipe said that the bananas needed to be mashed to a smooth paste. So, I carried on.
The loaf should have taken 50 mins. It wasn't ready - nowhere near - so I added 10 mins. Then 5 mins. Then 5 mins. Eventually, the skewer came out clean.
I left it in the tin to cool, and then cut a slice while it was still warm.
It's rather squidgy. But rather delicious.
And its squidginess means it will be perfect to have with some home made custard. Rather conveniently, I need egg whites for tomorrow and so it's a great excuse to make custard today. I love home made custard. It means a slight adjustment to tonight's menu, which was originally going to be souffled omelettes. I don't think even I can eat omelettes followed by custard. Well, actually, I probably could - but I don't think it's a good idea.
The challenge will be leaving that warm, sticky banana loaf unmolested until this evening.
