Recall slices of the enduring and sickly sweet supercouple of banana and toffee in the form of banoffee pie from the birthday parties of your childhood. Or even your adulthood. It consists of a base, either pastry or biscuit topped with caramel (but ready made dulce de leche will speed up the assembly process), banana slices and coffee-flavoured cream. So while banana and coffee may initially sound unusual, you’ve likely revelled in its pleasure at some point previously.
Have you ever wondered how the inspired spread of Nutella came about? The crème de la crème of hazelnuts can be found in the Piedmont region of Italy with their exceptional quality and bittersweet richness. In the late-nineteenth century, cocoa was hard to come by in this region. To bulk out the chocolate being made here, hazelnuts were added which eventually led to the heaven sent creation that is Nutella, today outselling peanut butter. Although then it was originally sold as a solid loaf and called pasta gianduja. ‘Two whole hazelnuts in every spoon’ is not quite nutty enough for me so I’ve added more to this recipe. If Nutella is a little sweet for you, you could replace it with a couple of Ferrero Rochers and blitz those before everything else – not something I’ve tried but I’m sure it would work.
Walk through the streets of Paris, particularly on a wintry evening, and your olfactory bulb will register the wafting aromas from the numerous crepe stands just before you spot steam rising from them. Clock the chalked up flavour combinations available and you’ll notice Nutella and banana often at the top of the list.
I’ve taken the complimenting flavours from the above and thrown them together in a satisfying and indulgent start to the day – one for a Sunday morning I reckon.
This recipe was developed for the Good Food Channel website and can be found here:
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/657611
Afiyet olsun.
Afiyet olsun.
