OK I’m not being serious, this is not only just for Shut Ins although sometimes during the cold of Winter, I definitely feel as though I qualify. I am not sure why there is such a stigma to hibernation, the bears do it and you hardly hear cries of “anti social bears” and mutterings that there’s something wrong with them. If you feel like the world is just too cold or cruel a place and that stepping out the door would be as appealing as sawing your own arm off, these recipes are for you. And I don’t want to hear from people who say that they’ve never felt like that and that they love socialising and interacting. Don’t get me wrong I do too. But there are just some days that you just want to barricade yourself indoors. An example of why everyone at some stage has felt this way is the great Australian tradition of a sickie. Sometimes you just cannot be bothered and slobbing around the house is the best you can do.

I like to celebrate my shut-in days by making the most of them. I watch the DVDs I’ve never gotten around to, read or at least start the books I’ve got gathering dust by the side of my bed and read trashy magazines *ahem* … I mean keep up with Current Affairs.

This Tessa Kiros recipe for chicken soup is from her book Apples for Jam, a cookbook/storybook with some gorgeous pictures and home recipes with a comforting edge to them. It interested me as it looked great in the photos. Yes, I am that superficial. I also liked the idea of a thick chicken soup - there’s nothing wrong with a thin broth but I like more sustaining soups, particularly if they are the main and only course at dinner.

As for the Potato Bread, I admit I fiddled with Nigella’s recipe. I actually got the idea from a friend Maria from Foodie Wanderings in which she told me about a bakery that made bread rolls with a whole boiled potato and mayonnaise inside. So I thought what bread recipe would better apply to this than Nigella’s potato bread. Call it potato on potato. And if you’re walking around in your Juicy trackpants, thermals and wooly socks, what better way to celebrate not having to wear your jeans than with an unashamed carb fest.

The soup was lovely on it’s own but like all great partnerships, it becomes so much more moreish when partnered with the spongy yet crunchy crusted bread. And if you think that it’s all too much of a production making the bread along with the soup, the smell of it baking in the oven should convince you otherwise. I’m pretty sure you could fit this in amongst your busy at home schedule. I managed to between appointments with Oprah and Entertainment Tonight.

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***NEWSFLASH*** NQN is holding a Banana Bread Bake off event! Bake your Best Banana Bread recipe and enter this event here!

It is true that there are at least 1001 recipes for Banana Bread. It is also true that some of them will claim to be the best ever recipe. Whilst I can’t say that I am remotely qualified to be the judge of the best banana bread, I can say that I am somewhat qualified to eat them. So I decided that with a surplus of bananas (in Australia April-June and August-October are the best times to eat them), I’d make four different kinds of Banana Bread. The first one was of course from Nigella, the second a standby good old banana bread recipe I found in a Woolworths Fresh magazine, the third from the Taste website by Janelle Bloom (yes, I know she microwaves everything but this recipe did not involve the microwave and I was persuaded by the coconut flavour in it) and the last one is a Chocolate Banana bread by Karen Martini from the Sunday Life magazine.

1. Nigella’s Banana bread

I was woken at 7am this morning by a sudden urge to bake. Actually no, it was the birds outside and their loud morning calls that woke me but not knowing what to do with myself, I decided to bake. It was at the urging and from the favorable reviews on Vogue’s food forum that I sought to make Nigella’s banana bread. I was also influenced by the bananas that were ripening aromatically in my kitchen that were the perfect size for this recipe. The addition of brandy or rum soaked sultanas and walnuts makes this a little fancier and showier than your normal Banana Bread. I call this the Marcia Brady of the Banana Breads.

I made this a little rougher textured that I would like in that I didn’t chop the walnuts too finely and unlike most baked goods, I found this really came into its own when it was cold, sliced and buttered. When it was straight out of the oven, it just didn’t appeal to me as much.

• 100g sultanas
• 75ml bourbon or dark rum (or apple or orange juice if you’re wanting it to be non alcoholic)
• 175g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• half teaspoon salt
• 125g unsalted butter, melted
• 150g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 small, very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed
• 60g chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin, buttered and floured or with a paper insert

1. Put the sultanas and rum or bourbon in a smallish saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour if you can, or until the sultanas have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.

2. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, drained sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

4. Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 to 1 and a quarter hours. When it’s ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

Makes 8-10 slices

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

2. Woolworth’s Fresh Banana Bread

This is more your plain Jane, nothing fancy like walnuts or brandy soused sultanas. I see it more as the Jan Brady of Banana Bread. Nigella’s would undoubtedly be Marcia Marcia Marcia. That doesn’t mean Jan isn’t good but she just isn’t as flashy but it also means that she is less work. It’s soft and fine grained but less moist.

Prep: 10 minutes Cooking: 50 minutes Makes: 1 loaf (10-12 slices)

• 1 cup (150g) plain flour
• 1/2 cup (75g) self raising flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125g butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs whisked
• 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Grease and line the base and sides of an 11cms x 21cmsx6cm deep loaf pan.

2. Combine flours, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk butter and eggs together. Stir in banana. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth the surface.

3. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve spread with butter.

Recipe: Woolworths Fresh magazine

3. Janelle Bloom’s Banana and Coconut Bread

Yes I do know that she is on Ready Steady Cook purporting the merits of Microwaves at every turn but I am willing to overlook this because of the addition of coconut and coconut milk in this Banana bread. This cake is very delicate, moist and light, the lightest of the four and not overly sweet but just sweet enough. Interestingly, there’s no butter in the recipe with the moisture and fat content provided by the coconut milk (I used coconut cream) which produces a lovely moistness. I call this the Mrs Brady-the surprise fox among the hens.

Ingredients (serves 8 )

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 cup mashed banana (see note)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 6cm deep, 10.5cm x 20.5cm (base) loaf pan.

2. Combine coconut, sugar and flour in a large bowl. Using a fork, beat banana, coconut milk, egg and vanilla in a jug. Pour over flour mixture. Gently stir to combine. Spoon mixture into pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.

3. Stand for 10 minutes in pan. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve sliced or toasted with butter, jam or cream cheese.

Notes & tips

* Note: Two large or 3 medium-sized ripe bananas will give 1 cup of mashed banana.
* Tip: Banana coconut loaf will keep for 1 week stored in an airtight container.

Source Super Food Ideas - September 2005 , Page 21
Recipe by Janelle Bloom

4. Karen Martini’s Chocolate and Banana Bread

I left the most fiddly one until last. It’s not particularly fiddly when you compare it to a normal cake but it does require creaming and thus the aid of the heavy equipment whereas the other banana breads just needed a bit of luxuriated stirring. I am in two minds about Karen Martini’s recipes, the ones that I have tried have not been great, but the picture of this one was too tempting to not make. As it turns out, mine did not resemble the one in her picture in the slightest (notwithstanding the fact that I forgot to add the banana on top). Hers was a deep, dark chocolate colour on the outside with a glossy coating on top. Mine was more a very light brown and not glossy. Also when cutting it when warm, it wasn’t very dense, I would have liked a note to slice it when it’s cold. So I guess it’s the last Karen Martini recipe for me at least for a while. I like the little notes that Nigella gives and the fact that things turn out as they look in the pictures. As its the most trouble, and a little bit dense, it just has to be Cindy Brady.

• 250g plain flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 120g butter softened
• 130g raw sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2-4 very large ripe bananas (about 500g, mashed plus 1 extra)
• 60g shredded coconut
• 80g dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to fan-forced 175c (195c conventional)

2. Soft combined flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between. Add mashed banana and stir until combined. Fold in flour mixture, then add coconut and chocolate chips and stir until well combined.

3. Grease a loaf pan (22×12cms) and line the base with baking paper. Spoon mixture into pan. Slice extra banana and place on top of loaf (arrrgh I forgot the banana on top!). Bake for 65-70 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Recipe from Sunday Life by Karen Martini

I can say that out of the 4, I most liked Janelle Bloom’s Coconut and Banana bread the best followed closely by Nigella’s Banana Bread. I wasn’t so taken by Karen Martini’s Chocolate banana bread as I prefer dessicated to shredded coconut as it’s more delicate. As for the plain Jane Jan Brady Woolworth’s loaf, that was my least favourite in comparison with the others.

However my husband was an entirely different matter altogether. He liked the Woolworths Fresh magazine one the most, followed by Nigella’s, then Karen Martini’s Chocolate Banana bread and then Janelle Bloom’s Coconut banana bread which he said stuck to the roof of his mouth too much for comfort!

Having said that I don’t think that I would chuck any of them out of my bed at night and I found them all, uniformly best served cold with a spread of butter.

I have officially fallen in love with my pink Kitchenaid, especially its dough hook. I have even bought a cover to protect it-not that my kitchen is a target for stray missiles, but to keep the greasy stickiness that inevitably envelops everything at bay. Previously, I had shunned most dough and bread baking, mainly because I didn’t have the strength or will to knead for the 10 minutes required. Now I pop all of the ingredients in the big bowl, attach the hook and I can come back 6-7 minutes later and it will be kneaded. I say I can come back but I never do, as I prefer to watch the dough hook mix it all in in some sort of perverse food porn observation ritual.

These are so ridiculously moreish that I found myself eating 5 of these babies for lunch and forgoing my usual relatively healthy lunch. And this is from a girl that rarely has seconds. So I warn you, make these with caution and at someone else’s behest. Invite a large group of friends or lumberjacks in for morning tea. Anything to put some distance between yourself and 20 of these tempting, deliciously scented, buttery buns.

Norwegian Cinnamon buns

For the dough:

• 600 g flour (I added some extra flour as the dough was too sticky)
• 100 g sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 21 g (3 sachets-yes, really) easy blend yeast or 45 g fresh yeast
• 100 g butter
• 400 ml milk
• 2 eggs

For the filling:

• 150 g soft, unsalted butter
• 150 g sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

• Roasting tin approximately 33cm x 24cm or large brownie tin, lined with baking parchment bottom and sides

Preheat the oven to 230°C/ gas mark 8 (I wouldn’t do this until the end of Step 3)

The ginormously risen yeast beast

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Melt the butter and whisk it into milk and eggs, then stir it into the flour mixture. Mix to combine and then knead the dough either by hand or using the dough hook of a food mixer until its smooth and springy-add extra flour until the dough becomes a good rolling consistency. Form into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it to rise for about 25 minutes.

Vast tundra of dough with buttery cinnamoney sugar filling

2. Take one-third of the dough and roll it or stretch it to fit your tin; this will form the bottom of each bun when it has cooked. Roll out the rest of the dough on a lightly floured surface, aiming to get a rectangle of roughly 50×25cm. Mix the filling ingredients in a small bowl and then spread the rectangle with the buttery cinnamon texture (you can made this mixture up during the 25 minutes of proving the dough in Step 1). Try to get even coverage on the whole of the dough.

A little uneven, I’m sure you’ll do better than my rather poor effort

3. Roll it up from the longest side until you have a giant sausage. Cut the roll into 2 cm slices which should make about 20 rounds. Sit the rounds in lines on top of the dough in the tin, swirly cut-side up. Don’t worry if they don’t fit snugly together as they will swell and become puffy when they prove. Brush them with egg and let them rise again for about 15 minutes to let them get duly puffy.

Snug as a bug in a rug

4. Put in the hot oven and cook for 20-25 minutes (a couple of mine were a bit black at the top by 20 mins so watch out for them), by which time the buns will have risen and will be golden brown in colour. Don’t worry it they catch in places. Remove them from the tin and leave to cool slightly on a rack-it’s easy just to pick up the whole sheet of parchment and transfer them like that-before letting people tear them off, to eat warm.

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

There’s something conquering about making your own bread. For me at least, I never made bread much fearing using yeast like an OCD person fears breaking routine. Of course it helps enormously when you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment that does all of the work for you. Now I can’t stop baking things especially breads. We have so many things spilling out of our fridge, packed away in the freezer, given away to family and friends that its becoming a worrisome habit.

Today is Tropfest though and I need a snack that will be filling enough to be dinner but transportable too. If there is a criticism of bagels, its that for me, they’re almost too filling for a snack or lunch but perfect as dinner fodder. And of course I have plenty of cream cheese and smoked salmon on standby.

I made three different kinds of bagels: onion, poppyseed and sesame seed which simply involved dividing the dough into three. For the onion, I finely chopped up onion and left it to prove in the final stage. For the poppyseed and sesame seed bagels all that was required was a quick sprinkle before popping them into the oven.

I did find that fastening the join in the circle was a bit troublesome, after boiling them, the join would undo. But whilst affected this aesthetically it didn’t affect it functionally, as the bagel swelled and was able to contain the smoked salmon and cream cheese filling perfectly. Boxing these smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels up I felt something like a proud Jewish mother making bagels for her brood. Oy vey!

Bagels from How to be a Domestic Goddess

• 1 kg of white flour, plus more as necessary for kneading
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 7g of easy yeast or 15g of fresh yeast
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
• 500mL warm water, plus more as needed
• 2 tablespoon of malt or sugar, for poaching the bagels
• 2-3 baking sheets, oiled or greased
• Sesame seeds, poppyseeds or finely diced onion optional

1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl, add the sugar and the oil to the water. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid, mixing to a dough with a spatula or wooden spoon.

2. Knead the dough either by hand or with dough hook, trying to add more flour if you can, dough is better drier than wetter, the dough will be stiff and hard work, even with the dough hook it takes 10 minutes.

3. Form the dough into a ball and put it into an oiled bowl, turning once to coat all around, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it to rise for 1 hour. It should be well risen, and when you poke it with your finger , the impression should remain.

Proving (waiting to rise)

4. Punch the dough down and then give a good knead and divide into 3 pieces. Using your hands, roll each piece into a rope then cut each rope into 5 pieces. Roll each piece between the palms of your hands into a ball and then roll into another rope, curling to form ring. Seal the ends by overlapping.

5. Put on a large pan of water to boil, when it boils add the malt or the sugar.

6. Sit the bagels on the baking sheets cover with tea towels and leave for 20 minutes by which times they should be puffy. Preheat oven to 240C.

Bagel poaching

7. When the waters boiling, start poaching, drop a couple of bagels at a time into the boiling water and boil for 1 minute turning them once, use a couple of spatulas for this.

Bagel boiled and then sprinkled with poppyseeds

8. As you poach them put them back onto the oiled baking sheets, well spaced and then bake for 10-15 minutes until they’re shiny and golden brown. Mine were done within 10 minutes so do check after 10 minutes.

Makes 15 Bagels.

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

I was incredibly fearful that these would be hideous and not work as the “pastry” appeared to be a gooey mess that would be completely unworkable. Little did I know, that is what it is like! I followed Nigella Lawson’s recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess for Processor Danish Pastry (which she assures us, is how Danish pastry is made in Denmark nowadays). She did mention the words “gooey mess” but I thought that after being refrigerated overnight that it would “toughen” up as her next instructions are to roll it. I tried rolling it with a rolling pin where chaos ensued and the sticky gooey dough completely stuck to the rolling pin. Luckily, the high butter content meant that I could just spread and shape it with my hands and I made some Chocolate ones (using Nutella) and some Custard ones as I didn’t have the almonds or ricotta cheese in her recipes. I’ll try those next, and this ended up being one of the biggest baking successes notwithstanding how badly I thought that I’d thought they’d turn out! They are freakishly light and melt in the mouth, much more so than the croissant-y ones that you tend to find a bakeries. My husband thought that I had somehow stumbled upon the Krispy Kreme secret of sweet melt in the mouthness. I’m just glad they didn’t turn out as badly as I thought they would lol

Oh and I ran out of icing sugar after my mega cupcake making incident so I didn’t get to put the lovely white stripes over them-sorry!

Food Processor Danish Pastry from How To Be a Domestic Goddess

(makes 2 lots of pastry with 6-8 pastries in each lot. You can freeze 1 lot or keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days)

• 60ml warm water
• 125ml milk, at room temperature
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 250g white bread flour
• 7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 25g caster sugar
• 250g unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks

Pour the water and milk into a measuring jug and add the egg, beating with a fork to mix. Put aside. Put flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a food processor and give a quick whizz, just to mix. Add the cold slices of butter and process briefly so that the butter is cut up a little, though you still want visible chunks of at least 1cm. Empty the contents of the food processor into a large bowl and quickly add the contents of the jug. Fold the ingredients together, but don’t overdo it; expect to have a gooey mess with some butter lumps pebbled through it (she’s absolutely serious, this is a gooey mess!) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, put in the fridge and leave overnight or a few days.

To turn it into pastry, take it out of the fridge, let it get to room temperature and roll it out to a 50×50cm square (I couldn’t roll mine at all). Fold the dough square into thirds, like a business letter, turning it afterwards so that the closed fold is on your left, like the spine of a book. Roll out again to a 50cm square, repeating the steps above 3 times. Cut in half, wrap both pieces and store in the fridge for 30 minutes before using, or the freezer to store.

Add fillings like vanilla custard, nutella, chocolate or fruit

From How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson