For someone who does not like bananas, I do have quite a few banana recipes up my sleeve. Quick side story of why I don’t like bananas….it has to do with Universal Studios pre-2010. Universal Studios’ old school tram ride used to pass through “King Kong’s subway scene.” I was one of those little kids sitting eagerly on the side of the tram and when King Kong showed up and breathed his “banana breath,” I got the full dose because I was right in front of King Kong. For all the fellow O. Chem geeks who remember this lab, the scent was Isoamyl acetate…disgusting. For all you non-O.Chem geeks the scent was the banana car air freshener….absolutely disgusting.
Anyways, the most recent banana recipe was actually inspired by a trip to Downtown Disney. There is a little cafe there called Ralph Brennan’s “The Jazz Kitchen.” One of their classic dishes is their bananas foster. I did some digging and it turns out that bananas foster is an old school classic from the 1950s and originates from New Orleans when it was a major port of entry for bananas. At that time, Owen Brennan owned a restaurant called “Brennan’s restaurant” (not sure if it is related to the Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen). He wanted his chef, Paul Blange to include bananas in his dessert as a means of promoting the fruit and to spice up the recipe section of the Holiday Magazine. Fun fact: Brennan’s restaurant utilizes 35,000 lbs of bananas annually just for the dessert. Initially, when I heard of it the first thought that went through my head was cream and bananas…and King Kong. I wasn’t too far off. In fact, it was ice cream and bananas (no King Kong)! At first I refused it, but once I had some, I wanted the bowl to myself. The preparation of the dessert is actually done in front of you with a flambé finale. While everyone was watching the flambé, I snuck a good peak at the ingredients and thought…”I can have this every night if I wanted to (diabetes aside).”
Around the same time I started hunting around for bananas foster recipe, Popsugar food came out with their own and I found it to be quick enough of a recipe to squeeze in between work, studying, and rotation. It was a fantastic “pick-me-up” at the end of a rough day. Also, if you want to entertain guests, this is the way to go! One quick tip for this recipe, it is crucially important that you don’t use overly ripe bananas. Bananas get soft really quickly and once you cook it, it starts mushing. Use bananas that still have a hint of green on it.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 firm bananas, peeled, cut lengthwise, then halved
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch nutmeg
- Pinch salt
- 1/3 cup dark rum
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream
Directions:
1. Combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a sauce pan and stir over low to medium heat. Be sure to watch the mixture and to not burn the sugar. Start low and go slow to make sure everything incorporates smoothly. Be patient, and don’t turn up the heat to high otherwise it’ll burn.
2. Toss in your bananas and coat well with the mixture. Let it heat up for a little less than a minute. Push on your bananas to make sure they’re not goopy soft.
3. Pour in your dark rum.
4. Light it up, baby! Wait for the flame to self-extinguish and allow it to burn off all of the alcohol leaving behind the spicy after taste. Here are 2 ways to flambé:
- You can tilt the pan towards the flame and allow the fumes to catch the flames
- OR my preferred method is to use a long handled lighter to light the fumes and then watch it burn!
Scoot the pan back and forth to make sure everything gets coated and distributed evenly! Don’t burn off your eyebrows now!
5. Plate and put a generous helping of vanilla bean ice cream on top. Enjoy immediately!
Food for Pennies... 