Another good one from Paul Hollywood’s book. I’m enjoying it with a cup of tea on a cold June evening, will be making it again and Wiola just asked for recipe too. I was able to spend a few productive hours in the kitchen today, as Iz had company upstairs. The kids are still not back at school, but Iz and Lili are now seeing each other regularly to play, so today I could cook. And bake. In peace.

For the loaf I used 4 medium sized overripe bananas, mashed them up with 125 g of sugar- which is half of what Hollywood’s recipe recommended, but I thought it was not needed. Bananas are sweet, especially overrripe. To this banana/sugar mixture I added 125 g of very soft unsalted butter, combined it well, then added 2 eggs, 250 g of plain flour, but by bit, while kitchen aid worked, 2 tsps of baking powder, a bit of cinnamon and finally 120 g of chopped pecans, substitute for walnuts. Onto the baking tray, smoothed out and into the oven at 190 degrees for less than 40 minutes, till the skewer came out dry.

Very, very nice indeed. I gave Marcin half, when he came to collect Lili, they are loving it too.

Another culinary success today was a thick sauce I’ve made with 2 duck legs, which accompanied kluski slaskie. My child, not a big meat fan not only had seconds, but specifically asked for “some more of that duck meat”. And Florek, who stirs clear of duck as a rule also said that the sauce was very good indeed.

Duck legs were seasoned well, browned all over, then a large shallot and a red onion chopped went in, a splash of chianti, chicken stock, some lemon thyme ( discovered when making mussels, phenomenal herb!) and some porcini. This all cooked under the lid until the meat was lovely and tender. I then blitzed the sauce till nice and smooth, having removed the thyme stalks first, separated the meat from the bones and added it to the sauce, some green beans, separately cooked and finished with some chopped parsley. I thought it was delicious and I kept on licking it while making the dumplings. My kinda food!