goes bananas with delicious recipes

While we are all getting so much better at cutting down food air miles, says Rachel Allen, bananas are the one food that are still a staple in her shopping trolley

“This banana bread cries out to be served with a naughty drizzle of salted caramel sauce”

One food I cannot avoid striking up a few air miles for is the humble but oh-so brilliant banana. Bananas are a staple in my shopping basket and are as versatile as they come; they make their way into everything from a morning smoothie to a cheeky sandwich with delicious nut butter.

An ideal snack on the run, the ubiquitous banana is, of course, a dinger in the baking department, too. When they get really ripe and mottled with chocolatebrown spots, bananas double in sweetness, enhancing their creamy, honey-like flavour for cakes, buns and puddings. I love the moisture that they bring to baking, while the sweet, comforting aroma in the kitchen when you are cooking with bananas is hard to beat.

Ironically, the trick to ripening bananas quickly is to put them into the fridge overnight — and, of course, they’ll freeze too, if you want to save them for a rainy day of baking. Speaking of the freezer, a handy little ice cream that also happens to be good for you is a cheat’s banana ice cream. Take a few frozen bananas, peel them, then add a tiny drizzle of honey and cinnamon and quickly whizz up to blend. Spoon the ‘ice cream’ into frozen bowls and serve straight away.

The banana cake, right, is one of my favourites. It’s lighter than banana bread, but equally comforting and flavoursome — this just cries out to be served with a naughty drizzle of salted caramel sauce.

This banana butterscotch pudding, far right, which the lovely chef and food writer Bill Granger made for me years ago, is an Australian ‘self-saucing’ pudding. It sounds strange — you pour a thin, watery liquid over your pudding mixture — but, as it bakes, the liquid sinks to the bottom to make the most delicious toffee sauce under the moist banana sponge. Don’t overcook this pudding, or you won’t achieve the two layers.

Bananas love nuts, and these muffins made with nut butter, also far right, are, of course a treat, but also full of power. I love to use a hazelnut butter for them, but a regular peanut butter will do, too. For even more indulgence, add a scattering of chopped dark chocolate into the mix.