I want the ultimate comfort food

3 ripe bananas, mashed 1 tablespoon dark rum 2 cups self-raising flour 1 banana, sliced in half, lengthways

Lightly butter a 23cm round ovenproof dish with the 1 tablespoon of butter and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Beat the remaining butter with the brown sugar in a mixing bowl until soft and creamy.

Add the eggs, bananas and rum and beat briefly to combine.

Sift in the flour in two lots, folding to combine, then spoon into prepared dish.

Place the halved banana, cut side up, on top of the cake batter.

Bake for 40 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean), then leave to sit for 5 minutes before serving with Rum’n’raisin Caramel Sauce and lashings of vanilla bean icecream or whipped cream.

Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: about 6 minutes Makes: 1 cup

1 cup caster sugar cup water cup cream 2 tablespoons dark rum 1 tablespoon butter

cup raisins

Whisk caster sugar and water together in a pot over a mediumhigh heat. Brush any sugar that has stuck to the pot from the sides with a small brush.

Cook, without stirring, until the sugar has crystallised white, then turned a light golden amber colour.

Swirl the pan to ensure even cooking, then as soon as it is pale amber, remove from the heat and whisk in the cream – it will froth up madly in a wild way, but just whisk hard then add the rum and butter and whisk again until incorporated. Add raisins and stir to combine.

Once cooled, pour into a container and store in the fridge. Before serving, reheat gently in a small pot or the microwave. Wild and stormy weather lends itself to hunkering down with all manner of easy comfort-food delights, and one of my go-to things to make is slow-roasted lamb – could there be anything simpler?

Just choose a leg or shoulder of lamb, season well with salt and pepper, make slits in the top and stud with peeled garlic cloves, then elevate it on thickly sliced onion and aromatics like rosemary, bay leaves or thyme in a roasting dish and pour liquid (wine/cider/beer) deeply around the base. Cover with tinfoil and bung in the oven at 150C for up to 6 hours or more.

Remove the foil, crank the temperature up to 180C and give it another 45 minutes to an hour to become burnished and golden.

The meat will be so tender you can shred it with a fork!

Soups are another easy comfort-food fix – there are so many fabulous combinations – pumpkin and kumara dotted with pancetta and blue cheese; cauliflower and celeriac, carrot, lentils and cumin; chicken, leek and thyme; mixed mushrooms with a hit of sherry… the options are endless – but I confess, whatever the flavour I can’t resist a spoonful of thick cream or yoghurt on top to finish it off.

Recipes, food styling and photography by Sarah Tuck