Banana bread

This morning, like every morning, I stepped on the scales. And on that note, I won’t be cooking today. Especially since I’m having people over for lunch tomorrow (the plan is duck breast with apples and dried apricots, served with tender little Polish potato dumplings and sweet pan-fried beetroot. I’ll post the recipes tomorrow, assuming it all works out). There’ll be more than enough calories to go round.

Prymitywna Kuchnia, though, abhors a vacuum. So if you don’t have a “morning weigh-in” problem, here’s an incredibly simple cake that’ll cheer up anyone who likes bananas. I doubt bananas are all that healthy, but what the heck.

I last made banana bread three weeks ago. I happened to be at my parents’ when it turned out there were a few bananas in need of disposal because “they just sit there, nobody eats them, and then those nasty little flies turn up”. In the interests of family peace, something had to be done (when bananas are on special, Dad buys too many, and Mum isn’t terribly keen because of the flies… you get the picture?). So let’s dispose of those bananas (I think that even complies with the Polish waste disposal law).

At a glance:

Prep time: 10 minutes

Baking time: about an hour

Oven temperature: 170 degrees Celsius

Serves: 6

How many calories: one look at the ingredients will tell you it’s quite a few

Ingredients for a slightly moist banana loaf:

• 5 good-sized bananas (they can be on their last banana legs)
•  2 eggs
• 3/4 cup olive oil (the first time I made this I thought it would taste awful with olive oil. Luckily I was wrong)
• 2 cups wheat flour
• half a cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Method (a doddle as cakes go):

I reckon this banana bread is even easier than my recipe for pancakes. I start by peeling the bananas and mashing them in a tall bowl. I add the olive oil and eggs to the bananas and whizz everything with a blender. Then in go the sugar, flour and baking soda. I stir with a spoon first, then give it another whizz. The batter should be fairly smooth.

I pour it into a buttered loaf tin and pop it into an oven preheated to 170 degrees Celsius for about an hour. I keep an eye on it to make sure it isn’t burning. When it looks done, I use a skewer (one of those wooden kebab skewers. I’ve no idea why I bought them, but it’s come in handy now) to see if the middle is dry. The bread tastes lovely once it’s cooled down a bit. It shouldn’t be too dry, either. That’s the best thing about it. Enjoy!