Enjoy A Variety Of Foods Every Day (Part 14) - Brazil & banana bread, Spiced duck pot roast with red cabbage & grapes

Brazil & banana bread

CUTS INTO 12 slices

PREP 30 mins

COOK 40 mins

·         100ml/3½fl oz sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing

·         140g/5oz caster sugar

·         140g/5oz plain flour

·         140g/5oz Brazil nuts, roughly chopped

·         50g/2oz desiccated coconut

·         1 tbsp butter, diced, plus extra to serve (optional)

·         2 large, very ripe bananas – with black skins is ideal (about 175g/6oz peeled weight)

·         1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white

·         5 tbsp milk

·         ½ tsp baking powder

Brazil & banana bread

Often overlooked for their more fashionable friends, these nuts deserve their turn in the spotlight. They're bursting with goodness.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 900g loaf tin, then line the base and ends with a long strip of baking parchment. Stir together 2 tbsp each of the sugar, flour, nuts and coconut. Add the butter and rub together to sticky crumbs. Set aside.

Mash the bananas well, then stir in the sunflower oil, egg and milk. In a separate large bowl, mix half of the remaining sugar, followed by the remaining flour, nuts and coconut, then the baking powder and cinnamon.

Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks, add the final bit of sugar and whisk again until stiff and shiny. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients then lightly fold in the egg white mixture. Gently scrape into the tin and scatter over the crumb mixture.

Bake for 40 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean, covering with foil if the bread starts to go too brown. Cool in the tin, then remove and thickly slice, eating with butter, if you like.

PER SLICE 299 kcals, protein 4g, carbs 24g, fat 21g, sat fat 6g, fiber 2g, sugar 16g, salt 0.1g

Spiced duck pot roast with red cabbage & grapes

SERVES 4

PREP 20 mins

COOK 3 hrs 10 mins

·         400g/14oz red cabbage, tough core removed, sliced into long strips

·         2 onions, thinly sliced

·         3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

·         1 Granny smith apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

·         175g/6oz seedless grapes

·         50g/2oz dried cranberries (or 65g fresh)

·         1 pinch each of ground cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg

·         100ml/3½fl oz red wine

·         3 tbsp Sherry vinegar

·         4 duck legs, thighs attached (about 200g each)

Spiced duck pot roast with red cabbage & grapes

Braised red cabbage goes fantastically well with duck, so I decided to combine the two in this spiced sweet & sour pot roast. Go for duck legs and thighs rather than breast, as these will stay more juicy and succulent.

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. In a large flameproof casserole that has a lid, mix together all the ingredients except the duck, along with a couple of generous pinches of salt and a few grinds of a pepper mill. Put the dish on a low heat on the hob just to get things bubbling, then pop in the oven, lid on, for 1½ hrs. Give everything a stir a few times during the cooking time.

Meanwhile, trim the duck legs of any excess skin or fat and score the surface a of the skin with a sharp knife, taking care not to pierce the flesh, only the skin. (Scoring helps the fat to be released and encourages browning.) Season the duck with salt and black pepper. In a dry non-stick frying pan, brown the pieces of duck on a medium heat, skin-side down. Don't crowd the pan, so do it in batches if you have to. The duck will release a lot of fat, so drain it off as you go (keep it in the fridge for delicious roast potatoes), and continue browning for about 7 mins until most of the fat has rendered and the skin side is a deep golden brown.

Quickly seal the other side for a few mins and set aside on a plate. After the cabbage has been cooking for 1½ hrs, remove it from the oven and put the browned duck pieces, skin-side up, on top of the red cabbage mixture. Put the dish back in the oven, covered, for a further 1½ hrs until most of the liquid in the pot has reduced. Don't be afraid to give the cabbage under the duck a little stir or shake a few times during cooking.

After enjoying the aromas for a few hrs, you'll be left with delicious sweet & sour red cabbage and meltingly soft duck on top. Add a little more salt to the cabbage if you think it needs it. Serve with crunchy sautéed potatoes.

PER SERVING 463 kcals, protein 42g, carbs 27g, fat 18g, sat fat 5g, fibre 6g, sugar 24g, salt 1.0g