Peel Appeal

Nigella's new series began last Monday. She made a rather controversial "Banana Skin" Curry. Whilst I applaud her attempt at ZeroWaste, it did remind me of Hugh F-W's Slug Casserole. Laborious preparation, and lots of added ingredients- and at the end he did admit it was probably just as good without the slugs.[from from BBC]

But then I wondered if other chefs had used peels in recipes. I discovered Max La Manna, a young New York chef who specialises in zerowaste, vegetarian and vegan recipes. He puts banana skins in pancakes.

This makes sense to me - use the whole item in one dish [none of this setting aside the peel to use later, as a 'teaser', which is what Nigella did] My version - I peeled a banana, sliced it and sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning. Then chopped the skin into 2cm squares. I put 1 cup of milk in the liquidiser, added the peel, and blitzed till it was all blended.  I added 1 cup S.R. flour, 1 tsp sugar, and ½tsp baking powder. Blitzed again to make a batter. Then I cooked small pancakes [using my half cup measure to pour liquid into pan] Ta da!

Eight pancakes for two of us. I served them with the banana coins, a dollop of homemade yogurt and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup [I'm trying to use it up - honey, or other syrup would be just as good]
They tasted fine altho Bob said "not as 'spongy' as regular American style pancakes." Perhaps I should use more BP?

Warning- before cooking, the batter is an interesting purply grey colour [like blueberry yogurt]

Pancakes are an increasingly popular breakfast dish - and many of them use the whole banana in place of an egg [as does MLM] My version makes just enough for 2 of us, and you do get the two different textures with the sliced fruit on top. MLM adds cinnamon to his batter, I may try that sometime. You could go vegan and swap the milk for a plant-based version. A fresh, free range egg costs me around 17p from the farm - so I am saving that if I use the peel instead. 

I have an absurd fondness for writing on banana skins with a ballpoint pen [go on, try it sometime, it feels very satisfying] Bob said I must be sure not to write on any peel I plan to cook with!
What do you do with banana peel? do you just put it in the compost/food waste, or do you have a good recipe?

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