Saturday Night Delights

In honor of having my mum and dad here for the night, as we are all flying to London in the morning, I decided to cook dinner- AND make dessert. And I decided to go for absolutely yummy recipes from my new favorite foodie crush Sophie Dahl. Now; I know you all know Sophie Dahl as that gorgeous curvy model, but did you know she is also the most amazing cook? Seriously; I totally recommend her cookbook Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, a major lifestyle/foodie/fab inspiration. The pages all look so yum I want to crawl in and just live her life! Definitively the way a cookbook should make you feel! So anyway; I strayed quite a bit there, I cooked both main course and dessert; and my parents were seriously impressed. And the best part? Both recipes were SO easy and quick, I will definitively make them both again for future dinner guests!

Pasta Puttanesca:

(Recipe serves 2, so I just doubled the given quantities)

200 g of spelt penne
Olive oil

For the sauce

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 a fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
400 g of chopped tomatoes, drained
4 anchovy fillets
1/2 teaspoon of soft brown sugar
150 g of black olives, pitted
2 large tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley

Sauce first: Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sweat the garlic and the chili. Make sure you don't burn the garlic, otherwise it will become bitter. Add the tomatoes and simmer on low heat. In a pestle and mortar, grind the anchovies with the remaining olive oil into a paste. Add to the sauce and carry on simmering for about 20 minutes. Add half a teaspoon of brown sugar- to taste.

Cook the pasta as directed on the box, until it is al dente. Add the olives to the sauce and serve with a big handful of the chopped parsley- tuck in!

Banana Bread

(Serves 6- ish)

75 g of soft butter, plus extra for greasing and serving
4 ripe bananas, mashed up
200 g of soft brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1 pinch of salt
170 g of flour (spelt or whatever)

Preheat oven to 180 C/160 C fan/Gas 4. Grease a bread tin.

Pour the mashed bananas into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add the baking soda and salt and mix in the flour last. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for approximately 1 hour, remove and cool, then serve in slices with butter- or some good quality vanilla ice cream like I did!