A Susie masterclass (I): Nigella Lawson’s banana bread

She shoots, she scores. Susie has politely stayed out of the kitchen for the past few weeks while I’ve bumbled around creating a few dishes to get this blog on the road. This afernoon, she decided it was time for the amateurs to step aside and let a professional through to the oven. Like the goal-poaching striker who drifts in and out of the match but always materialises on the far post when the cross comes in, she appeared from nowhere in the kitchen this afternoon and displayed all the talents of a class finisher.

Eyeing some liver-spotted bananas, she sensed her opportunity. We had sugar, we had eggs, we had rum: Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domestic Goddess” banana bread was on. You can see the result, above. Dark brown sugar worked with the rum to give the bread a molass-ey, treacle-y sassiness; a handful of chopped pecans gave added bite.