Sometimes, maybe every couple of months, I get a very strong craving for bananas, even though normally I can very easily do without.

Lately I’ve been eating peanut butter+banana+chestnut honey on pitta bread, and it is delicious! I have no idea how this started, but it’s too late now!
This recipe is from “Hamlyn all colour teatime favourites”, a book I bought in a charity shop a couple of months ago, so I don’t know if it’s still in print.

The original recipe is for a filled cake, I have made smaller square cakes instead (I had to try out the baking tray I bought yesterday!). If you want to make a cake, divide the batter in 2 small tins and bake.

The filling is made with banana, icing sugar and ground almonds, it’s surprisingly good, not too sweet, and if you like marzipan you will love it!

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I found this recipe on in Italian magazine ages ago, I’ve done it a few times and they are delicious, they are very easy to make, especially if you have a hand-held electrical whisk, otherwise it will take a bit longer.

The rose water will come out when they are cooking in the oven and the house will smell DIVINE.

These little beauties are quite delicate because of the rice flour (try to squeeze them and they will disintegrate!), so remember to leave them on the tray to cool down for a few minutes and handle them carefully!

If your local supermarket doesn’t stock the rose water, try a middle eastern or Mediterranean shop.

The rice flour is usually sold in health shops.

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The weather is soggy and chilly, and we all need some comfort.

This is more of a snack than it is a dish, but you could always put some salad next to it to make it healthy!

You only need a few ingredients to make it, but do try to find the best mozzarella (buffalo is the best) and a very good bread, the one in the photo is granary wholemeal, but I think it might work better with italian breads, olive or tomatoes or just a sliced ciabatta. Don’t forget the olive oil has to be very good strong flavoured extra virgin.

This recipe is basically an Italian version of cheese on toast (or Welsh rarebit)

1 thick slice of bread per person

mozzarella (sliced) at room temperature

Extra virgin olive oil

salt, pepper, fresh lemon juice

Toast the bread and drizzle with a little olive oil, put the mozzarella, more olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and a few drops of lemon juice, don’t skip this because it give a right kick to the toast!

Put under a hot grill until the mozzarella starts to melt.

Eat straight away!

Otherwise called “messy rice”! This recipe has few ingredients, it is very straightforward to make and I think it has the “comfort food” feel. If you are a cheese eater, you can add crumbled goat’s cheese or some feta cheese at the very end.

Ingredients for 1 (multiply as needed!)

4 tablespoons of brown basmaty rice

1 small sweet potato (red flesh)

1 small red onion

2 tablespoons of cashew nuts

soy sauce (about 1-2 tablespoons, depending on how you like it)

2 tablespoons of groundnut oil (or other similar seed oil)

Wash the rice and put in boiling salted water, let it cook until the grains start to “open” (this will take some time, depending on the quantity of rice, for 1 portion it takes about 20 minutes).

While the rice is cooking, peel the onion, cut in half and slice thinly.

Skin the potato and cut in small chunks.

Heat the oil in a pan and put the potato, let it cook gently turning them every now and then, add the onions.

When the potatoes are nearly cooked put the cashews (no need to roast them, they taste just as lovely), cook a few more minutes and take off the heat.

When the rice is ready, strain it through a sieve, put it back in the pan and cover with a lid, let it fluff up for 2 minutes.

Transfer the potatoes on a dish, put a little bit more oil (one tablespoon is enough), heat the pan and throw the rice in.

Add the soy sauce and stir well.

What you are doing now is making the rice crunchy, it must form a golden crust, so turn it with a spoon so you can have as much crunch as you possibly can, that’s without burning the rice!

When the rice is almost done, put the potatoes back in the pan and mix everything together to heat it up.

Put on a plate and eat!

If you want, you can add crumbled cheese but if you do you might want to skip the soy sauce or it will be too salty.