Today I spent most of the afternoon making preparations for tomorrow's Burns supper, mostly getting food ready so I don't need to worry about it tomorrow.
We're having the customary Scotch broth as the starter – this is very easy to make (get the ingredients together, put them in the big soup pot, and cook them for two hours), re-heats well, and usually comes out quite tasty even though I don't bother with the 2.3 litres of lamb stock that the recipe stipulates. (Vegetable stock is fine with me and a lot easier to make.)
Dessert this year is Banoffee pie, yet another favourite of ours, and we still have a few cans of pre-caramelised condensed milk which are approaching the end of their shelf life, so I can combine the useful with the yummy! Thankfully the supermarket on Wednesday had a package of original Hob-Nobs from McVities (accept no substitutes), and getting the biscuit layer and the toffee layer in was no trouble at all. The Banoffee pie is now sitting in the big fridge outside the balcony door (fortunately the temperatures, while unseasonably warm for January, are still not above refrigerator level) and the bananas and cream layers will go on tomorrow morning.
Banoffee Pie
In case you're interested, here's the Banoffee pie recipe I'm using:
Butter (100g or so)
Hob-Nobs (or similar oat-type biscuits, 1 package)
Chocolate flakes (2 handfuls)
Caramelised condensed milk (1 tin)
Bananas (3 small-to-medium ones)
Double cream (Schlagrahm in a German supermarket, 250 ml)
Whipping cream (125 ml)
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Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Put the Hob-Nobs (still in their inner packaging) in a freezer bag, wrap that in a dish towel, and pound this packet with a rubber mallet until the biscuits are reduced to crumbs. Add the crumbs to the butter together with a handful of chocolate flakes, and mix well. Put the mass at the bottom of a big serving dish, spread it evenly, and place the dish in the refrigerator (or outside if you're making it in January – we have a big plastic “salad carrier” for parties with a lid, and the glass dish I'm using for the Banoffee pie fits into that very comfortably so we don't fatten the squirrels).
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Once the biscuit layer has cooled down, spread the caramelised condensed milk evenly on top of that and put the dish in the fridge again. (I always use already-caramelised condensed milk from the supermarket because I can't be bothered making it myself – it's a huge hassle and takes quite some time.)
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Slice the bananas and spread the slices evenly on top of the toffee.
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Whisk together the double cream and whipping cream, and spread on top of the bananas. Back into the fridge it goes until it's time for dessert.
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Sprinkle another good handful of chocolate flakes on top and enjoy. (I like to do this immediately before serving the Banoffee pie because otherwise the chocolate flakes will run into the cream.)
This is totally easy to make and takes very little time (outside the periods where it is chilling down in the fridge), but remains a guaranteed crowd-pleaser at least among people who aren't counting their calories. Will serve 6 or so.