Felafel burgers

Another BBC Good Food recipe. I'd possibly try this again but there are so many things to change I should really look for another recipe!

• Not enough texture - blend for less time, or maybe mash.
• Not enough oomph to the flavour - more cumin, coriander. I used Ras-el-hanout instead of harissa, so if I did that again I would (a) use more and (b) add something else for heat.
• Too oniony - chop the onion more finely first, and use only half.
  
• Too soft (crispy outside, bleh middle, hard to flip). I added water in an attempt to get the chick peas to do something other than plaster the wall of the food processor - that was a bad move.

Or I suppose I could just buy a mix ;)

Great marinade for pork

Picked up some nice pork fillet from the butcher last week, and fancied it marinaded so did a bit of a web search. This BBC recipe did the job from storecupboard ingredients. Very tasty, not too salty, slight curryish tang from the turmeric and cumin. After browning it in the pan and transferring to the oven, I used the same pan to braise some shredded savoy cabbage, adding black pepper, and we had some roast potatoes with it. An excellent easy dish.

Not such a success...

I had some bananas and butter to use up and was tempted by this "lighter" banana cake (as opposed to the usual banana bread). Unfortunately, it came out rather squidgy, and I don't think I'll bother making it again.

I followed the instructions as best I could (excellent step by step photos on the recipe), apart from not having a stand mixer (how big a kitchen do these people have?). I even included the stated amount of sugar, despite the fact that my instinct with any American recipe is to halve it. I didn't have 3 cups of plain flour, but subbed in one of self raising and reduced the baking powder/soda by a third. Was that where I went wrong?

The recipe said to bake in "three round pans". I only have one, so I baked it in two square ones instead. There wasn't a huge amount of batter (they must have been intending three very small tins) but I figured they would rise. They didn't rise much, but at the end of the baking time the skewer test indicated they were done, so I pulled them out, but they then sank while they cooled.

I cut the uneven bits off, sandwiched them together with some spare apricot jam, and there you have it. Banana squidge. Tastes OK, but less than great texture-wise. Cross that one off the list, I can't bothered faffing to find out where it went wrong.

[Edit] The cake was so squidgy it went mouldy in under a week. Big-time fuzzy mouldy. The birds liked it though!