Days 12 and 13 in Ireland

Days 12 and 13 weren’t particularly exciting, so I decided to combine them.  On day 12, I spent most of the day helping Grania clean out the top floor of the house.  It didn’t look to me as if we made a lot of progress because we just kept moving things from room to room, but she said at the end of the day that we had done great, so I guess we did great.  I also went with Joe to a Gaelic football match in Limerick.  It is a combination of basketball and soccer.  The field is double the size of a soccer field, and there are 15 players on each team on the field at all times.  You score points in two ways.  You get one point for kicking the ball over the goal post and three points for kicking in the net.  Players can kick the ball off their own feet and run four steps for every dribble they take.  It wasn’t too difficult to pick up, but I’m sure I’m still missing out on a lot of the strategy that occurred.  On day 13, I had the worst allergies of my life.  My eyes were almost swollen shut.  Grania took me to the drug store to get nose drops, eye drops and an allergy pill.  Once I took everything I laid down for a couple hours and woke up feeling a lot better, which was an unbelievable relief.  I thought I was going to scratch my face off at one point.  For the rest of the day we baked, and I taught Grania how to use facebook.  We made caramelized banana tart and Guinness cake, both of which were delicious and not too difficult to make.  Here are the recipes in case anyone else wants to try them:

Caramelised Banana Tart (Grania; Adare, Ireland)

Serves 6-8

Base

75 g (3 oz) butter

45 g (1.5 oz) soft brown (Barbados) sugar

45 g (1.5 oz) caster sugar

4-5 bananas

A little freshly squeezed lemon juice

Topping

1 ripe banana, mashed

2 tablespoons crème fraiche

1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence

175 g (6 oz) caster sugar

75 g (3 oz) butter

2 eggs

175 g (6 oz) self-rising flour

1 flameproof and ovenproof sauté pan 25.5 x 5 cm (10 x 2 in) deep or a similar heavy weight tin

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F

Melt the butter in the saute pan or heavy tin, add the sugars and stir well to dissolve.  Slice the bananas and arrange in concentric circles over the base.  Squeeze a little freshly squeezed lemon juice over the bananas.

Next make the topping.  Mash the banana, and the crème fraiche and vanilla essence.  Cream the butter, add the caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat well.  Gently fold in the flour and banana mixture alternatively.

Spread the topping evenly and carefully over the bananas.

Bake in the pre-heated over for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and fully cooked.

Allow to rest in the dish for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a warm serving plate so that the bananas are uppermost.  Be careful of the hot juices.  Serve warm.

Chocolate Guinness Cake (Grania; Adare, Ireland)

Makes about 12 slices

Cake

250 ml Guinness

250 g unsalted butter

75 g cocoa

400 g caster sugar

1 x 142 ml pot sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

275 g plain flour

2.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Topping

300 g Philadelphia cream cheese

150 g icing sugar

125 ml double or whipping cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan; add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar.  Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.  Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake. 

When the cake’s cool, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing.  Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together.  Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.

Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency.  Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.