In April 2010, during the Easter break, Babú treated the four of you to a holiday in Hungary. In order to free up the boys to revise for forthcoming exams (and definitely not because he has atavistic views about roles in the kitchen), Babú’s plan was for the girls to cook for everyone on two occasions. I sent you off with recipes and some ingredients for four dishes: wiener schnitzel, rice pudding, lemon chicken and banoffee pie. The recipe for the latter had been long pinned to the fridge at home – a faded clipping from a tabloid newspaper – and comes from Katie Price (yes, really). Fuelled by the delicious ‘banana cake’, Babú then drove you halfway across Europe, handing you over to Dom near Wurtzburg: it was the only way to get you home and back to school after the eruption of an un-spellable Icelandic volcano had grounded all flights.
Serves 6
Ingredients
400g tin of condensed milk
150g digestive biscuits
75g butter
3 large bananas
280ml double cream
Method
Put the can of condensed milk, unopened, in a large pan. Cover with water, bring to the boil and boil for 4 hours, topping up with boiling water from the kettle as needed. Remove and leave to cool.
Put the biscuits in a clean plastic bag or freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin.
Melt the butter in a small pan, add the crushed biscuits and mix until well coated. Press the mixture into the base of a 20cm flan tin, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Open the can of condensed milk, which will have turned to toffee, and spread over the biscuit layer. Peel and thinly slice the bananas, and arrange in a layer over the toffee.
Whip the cream until thick and spread over the bananas. Chill again before serving.
Years of Practice 