Banana banter

A bunch  of browning bananas sulkily staring at me from the fruit bowl, recriminating, challenging - you should have eaten us, what are you going to do with us, bet you won't let us go to waste?

You didn't know bananas could talk, did you, but listen carefully and the riper they get, the more incessant their chatter.
But I am in no mood to be lectured by a bunch of fruit, or, to be more precise, a hand of herbs, especially as I cannot get my head round the fact that a banana is a herb.
Two of them are unceremoniously dumped in a jug, drowned with cold milk and quickly turned into milkshake.
Thus leaves another four, their brown freckles joining up before my eyes and shouting now, "eat us, eat us or you will have to throw us on the compost." I am confronted in my imagination with a vision of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall waving an accusatory index finger and sorrowfully shaking his head, whilst wearing a t-shirt psychedelically emblazoned with #waronwaste
Note to self, perhaps a few less coffees?

The immediate thought is banana bread, and I'll wager a considerable sum that that is the first thought of many of you.  Of course, they could have been added to ice cream, frittered, turned into a banana Tarte Tatin, banoffee pie, or if my Dad were visiting, I would slice and fry them and stick them into a bacon sarnie for him - don't knock it 'til you've tried it.  But banana bread is always top of the list and there are so many variations.  We love Nigella Lawson's banana breakfast bread, with cardamom and cocoa nibs from Simply Nigella and we are also fond of one with chopped chocolate and peanut butter mixed in, but it was time for something new.

This is heavy, sticky, gooey and none the worse for that.  It's the banana equivalent of a Soreen malt loaf and given that they make over a million loaves a week, according to their website  that can be no bad thing.
Stick one in your rucksack on that next winter walk.

120g butter
120g brown sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas
60g dates
150g rye flour
20g pumpkin seeds
1tsp mixed spice or cinnamon
handful of chopped nuts
1 dessertspoon runny honey

Pre heat the oven to 170ºC
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add 2 of the bananas and mix until smooth.... If you are mixing by hand, mash the bananas first.
Thoroughly beat in the eggs, but don't worry too much if the mixture looks curdled at this stage.
Carefully fold in the flour, spice, seeds and dates.
Spoon the mixture in to a greased 2lb loaf tin.
Slice the remaining bananas lengthways and arrange on top of the cake. Sprinkle over the chopped nuts, I used almonds for this one, but hazelnuts, pistachios, pecans, walnuts or Brazil nuts would be just as good.
Drizzle the honey over the top and put the tin in the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes.  Check that it is cooked through by poking it with a skewer and if the skewer comes out clean, the cake is cooked.  If there is mixture clinging to the skewer, return it to the oven for another 10 minutes and check again.

Leave to cool in the tin, then run a palette knife around each side of the cake, invert the tin and turn out the cake.
Store in the fridge otherwise the bananas will go off quicker than you can admonish them, but remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving for maximum enjoyment.  In this case, revenge on the talking bananas is best served at room temperature.

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