Elvis's banana pound cake

Photo by Steve Shanahan

First published Canberra Times September 18 2013.

With nothing better to do than focus on the eating habits of the rich and famous, I find that there really are some weird culinary appetites out there. I wonder if being rich and famous causes this or is it an pre-existing enzyme in the brain that sets them on this path to culinary oddity? 

I am curious about Elvis Presley’s food habits; the widely known peanut butter and jelly sandwich binges and flying cross country to gorge on pre-ordered burgers. In researching this culinary curiosity, I was further surprised to stumble upon his obsession for pound cake. It’s said that he single-handedly consumed a whole loaf each time it was made for him by a childhood friend. This friendship persisted and she developed the recipe especially for Elvis, delivering the cooked cakes to him at Gracelands. She beefed up his version of the basic pound cake with extra cream, creating a smooth crumbed but heavier texture, to satisfy his food cravings that could strike at any time.

I decide to “doctor” Elvis’ cake and create my version, adding bananas, ground cinnamon and ginger to the Elvis mixture and halved the cream. This makes a delicately flavoured banana pound loaf, moist and fudgy with a hint of spice. The quantity makes two loaves and one always ends up in the freezer for later. I like this old style cake in its unadorned state, pristine and warm from the oven, with maybe just a little butter. Alternatively, top with a sweet cream cheese and walnut icing.

Makes two loaves.

Preheat the oven to 175C.

220g unsalted butter, softened

3 cups plain flour, sifted

2 ½ cups brown sugar

5 eggs

2 tsp vanilla paste

½ tsp salt

½ cup cream and ½ cup milk, combined

3 bananas, mashed

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp orange zest

Grease two, twenty-three centimetre loaf pans and set aside.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.

Add eggs one at the time, beating each one in well.

Add the flour and the cream and milk mixture, alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.

Add the spices and salt and beat until combined for about three minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the mashed banana and orange zest.

Divide the cake batter between the two greased loaf tins and bake for thirty-five to forty minutes. Remove from the oven and leave for about fifteen minutes before removing from the tins.

Bobotie with Banana

First published Canberra Times September 18 2013. 

Photo by Steve Shanahan

Bobotie is a national food icon to South Africans, sometimes described as a South African moussaka. It is best described as a light textured meat tart, flavoured with typical Cape Malay spices and fruit, then topped with a savoury custard.

The dish first appears in a Dutch cookbook in the early 1600s, and makes its way to the Cape Colony sometime in the seventeenth century. Dutch East India Company trading ships returning from the Spice Islands to Holland via the Cape of Good Hope brought the first Malay slaves, and their spices, to be added to the mix. Dutch colonists and migrant Indians also have a hand in its development and the result is a truly multicultural experience, with just the right balance of sweet, sour and spicy.

The variations of Bobotie are pretty much endless, but generally contain the wrap-around signature spice flavours with a selection of meat, fruit and topped with an egg custard and nuts. I chose the traditional beef mince, apples, curry, bananas, almonds and coconut for my dish, a combination that improves if left in the fridge overnight and warmed up the following day.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

500g lean beef mince

2 red onions, finely chopped

1 tbsp curry paste

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp each, ground coriander, ground cardamom and chilli powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of bread, crusts removed and softened with milk and mashed

1 tsp tomato paste

1 apple, peeled and cored, then grated

2 tbsp raisins or sultanas

2 tbsp fruit chutney

juice and zest of lemon

1 chopped garlic glove

2 bananas, sliced

200ml milk

2 large eggs

2 tbsp slivered almonds

2 tbsp shredded coconut

3 bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Grease a twenty centimetre ovenproof pie dish. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions and fry until soft. Add the curry paste and other spices, salt and pepper and fry for an additional minute. Add the beef mince, breaking up and cooking until browned.

Add the mashed bread and milk mixture, tomato paste, grated apple, raisins or sultanas, chutney, lemon zest and juice and the garlic. Fry for a few minutes until combined on a medium heat. 

Transfer the meat mixture to the greased pie dish and top with sliced banana.

Lightly beat the milk and eggs together with a fork and pour the custard mixture over the pie. Top with slivered almonds and shredded coconut and lay the bay leaves on the top.

Bake in a 200c oven for twenty five to thirty minutes. Serve with boiled rice cooked with half a teaspoon of turmeric. Bobotie can be eaten warm or at room temperature and flavours are best if eaten the following day. 

French vanilla slice

Photos by Steve Shanahan

First published Canberra Times 28 August 2013.  

An oozy, vanilla custard cream layer, that squeezes out as you bite down, sandwiched between thin sheets of crispy, golden pastry topped with a dusting of icing sugar. That slab of heaven is my ideal vanilla slice.

With the jury still out after intense debate on what constitutes the real thing, I strive to match the quality of the finest French vanilla slice I’ve had in a long time. This accolade is not bestowed on a trendy patisserie in Melbourne or Sydney, but goes to Barnetts Bakery, nestled in the picturesque NSW north coast surfing village of Crescent Head.

While holidaying in Crescent with the extended family in November last year, we rapidly develop a morning ritual based around our collective need for a decent coffee heart starter and a shared, growingly insatiable appetite for Barnett’s fabulous vanilla slice. Our morning scouts are sent down the hill each day to forage for these freshly baked pastry delights and half a dozen strong flat whites, with strict instructions to return post haste with the goodies and the day’s surf report.

As the debate rages between enthusiasts of the French creamy, custard variety, versus the yellow rubber Aussie icon, my Napoleonic allegiance does not miss a beat - a heart beat that is.

 

Makes 10 large slices.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

400ml fresh cream (not thickened)

350ml milk

2 sheets of ready rolled frozen puff pastry, thawed

50g butter

2 tspn vanilla paste or extract

6 egg yolks, separated from whites

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup water

½ cup cornflour

Icing sugar for dusting

Trim both sheets of puff pastry to fit a rectangle slice tin, measuring twenty centimetres by thirty centimetres. Line the tin with non-stick baking paper, greasing lightly to hold the paper in place. Allow some overhang of the paper to provide a handle to lift out the slice when set.

Place the two trimmed pastry sheets on a paper lined baking tray side by side. Leave a small gap between the two pastry sheets to allow room for spreading. Top with another layer of baking paper and place a tray on top of the baking paper to provide a weight on the pastry when cooking to reduce the pastry from rising and bubbling.

Bake the pastry for fifteen minutes, checking for colour. They should be cooked to a light golden colour.

Cool on wire racks and make the vanilla custard filling. Place the cream, milk, sugar, butter and vanilla in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cook until the mixture is hot, but not quite boiling and remove from the heat. Mix the water and cornflour to a smooth paste, then whisk into the hot milk mixture. Add the beaten egg yolks and stir briskly. Return to a low heat, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Place one of the cooked pastry sheets into the base of the lined slice tin, it should fit snugly. If the pastry sheet is too big, place on a flat board and trim carefully with a sharp knife to fit. Return to the tin and spread the cooled custard over the pastry. Top with the remaining pastry sheet, trimming to fit again if necessary.

Fold the overhanging baking paper back over the top to enclose. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours until set. To remove, carefully lift the overhanging baking paper and place on a board ready to slice. Peel away the paper.

To successfully slice this without squashing the custard from the middle, the trick is, to  

use a small sharp knife and cut only through the top layer of pastry, marking out ten, even sized slices. Then go back and slice the rest of the way down through the initial cut in the pastry, with a large, sharp knife until you hit the bottom layer of pastry and then push down to cut.