Cashew nut loaf

Like many of my generation, I imagine, I went through a bit of a vegetarian phase in my teens. I have few fond culinary memories of those days - the food always seemed to be missing something (like dead animal flesh). But a few recipes have stuck with me, and last night I pieced together one of them - a good old-fashioned nut loaf. This one is rich and moist - the addition of parsnips gives it a very satisfying sweetnesss. Nut loaf always has a tendency to taste like stuffing, but I am rather fond of stuffing.

1 onion
a little butter and oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
4-5 parsnips
250g cashew nuts
80g breadcrumbs
dried herbs - about a teaspoon in total
1 large egg
250g mushrooms, sliced quite thinly
salt and pepper

First, peel the parsnips and chop them into large chunks. Boil until completely soft. This took me around 25 minutes. Mash them. Then chop up the onion very finely, and sweat in butter and oil for five minutes, after which add the garlic and continue for another two or three minutes.

In a food processor, grind the chasew nutes until they're almost flour-like, then put them in a large bowl with the breadcrumbs. Add the herbs, the onion and garlic and the mashed parsnip. Mix well and add salt and pepper. Then mix in the egg.

In the meantime, cook the mushrooms in some butter for a few minutes until they're nice and soft. Then put half the cashew mixture in a large greased loaf tin, cover with the mushrooms, then the rest of the cashew mixture. Bake at 180C for an hour.

This is quite rich - so I found that the mashed pototoes, sprouts and onion sauce that I made to go with it were a bit much. Next time, just some salad, and maybe a light tomato sauce.

Banana cake

Arriving back from DC, I found a pile of bananas on the point of turning totally inedible. Drastic action was needed, and I scoured my recipe books for some way of using them up. One option was banana muffins, but the problem with muffins is that they go stale so quickly. Delia Smith offered me a loaf with bananas, but I lacked all the ingredients. I modified it, and it turned up trumps. This is a lovely treat. It keeps for a long time and is very little bother.

4 ripe bananas
150g pecans
pinch of salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
225g plain flour
zests of 1 orange and 1 lemon
110g butter
120g prunes and dates, chopped
175g light brown sugar
2 large eggs

As always, everything needs to be at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 180C, then roast the pecans for 7-8 minutes until nice and toasted, then chop them up quite small. I actually chopped them before roasting, and nothing bad happened (although I imagine they would be more prone to burning like this).

Mash three of the bananas, and chop the other one very finely - you could probably just mash them all. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and add everything else apart from the fruits and nuts. Whisk just until the flour all disappears, no longer. Then fold in the fruits and nuts. You might need more milk (I didn't) if the mixture doesn't fall off a spoon reasonably easily.

Butter a large loaf tin, and pile in the mixture. Sprinkle with sugar if you want. Then cook for a good hour, probably a bit more, enjoying the wonderful smells that will emanate from the oven. The cake will be bouncy on top.

This cake keeps for a good long time, and is wonderful with virtually anything, from cheese to ice cream.

Basic beef stew

Lots to catch up on. I've been in Washington for a few days, enjoying the autumn sunshine, the astonishing colours, and some protein-heavy restaurant food. Still, some cooking has still gone on back in New York, mostly trying to make the most of tired vegetables hanging around.

Jamie Oliver has a recipe for a beef stew that does not require the beef to be browned in advance. Since browning is a real pain, especially if you're in a hurry, avoiding the process is a particular boon. So I tried out his idea, and it works. Definitely a good, hearty meal.

olive oil
butter
1 onion
herbs
750g beef for stewing, chopped into big chunks
salt and pepper
flour
pile of root vegetables - a kilo or so in total
2 tbs tomato puree
375ml red wine
300ml stock

Chop up all the vegetables coarsely. Soften the onion in the oil and butter for a little while with some herbs. In a bowl, toss the meat in seasoned flour. I put in a good handful of flour, which turned out to be too much. So I had to shake off a lot of the flour in the end. Perhaps a tablespoon or two would be enough.

Then put everything into the pot with the onion, bring to the boil, and transfer to a 150C oven, lid on. I left it in for a good four hours.

Lovely, substantial, unsubtle stuff.

Celery soup with blue cheese

Just a quick supper last night - out to a concert at Carnegie Hall. No shopping involved, just using up some tired dregs lurking in the fridge.

500g celery, chopped
6 shallots, chopped
1 large baking potato, chopped
butter
garlic oil
150g blue cheese
600ml shop-bought vegetable stock
120ml cream
salt and pepper

The vegetables do not need to be chopped in any particularly tidy fashion. Just sweat them off in a little butter and oil (no need for the garlic oil really, I'd just run out of olive oil) for about 10 minutes. Then add the stock, bring to the boil, and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until everything is very soft. Off the heat add the cream and the cheese and liquidise with one of those hand-held liquidisers. It takes quite a lot to get rid of all the chunks of vegetables, but it does get there eventually. Add salt and pepper (it needs more than you might think - despite the cheese).

This soup is not going to change your life, but it's a decent way of using up some cheese that was on the brink of walking out. I think next time I will try it with better stock - as the shop-bought variety tends, if anything, to have too much taste.