BANANAS FOSTER
About the Recipe
Bananas Foster is an ideal comfort food for cold-weather January. A counterpart to weeks of too much fancy holiday fare, this rustic dessert is a nursery pudding beloved by adults due to the addition of copious alcohol.
My ex-husband Willy grew up in New Orleans. Though not much of a cook, he made fabulous Bananas Foster. By over-caramelizing the bananas with lots of butter, sugar and an extravagant amount of dark rum, he turned the more refined dessert of his youth (white rum, white sugar and less darkly caramelized) into something wildly flavorful and robust. He eliminated the banana liqueur as unnecessary and a bit prissy, but I like it. If curious, add 2 tablespoons for each cup of dark rum.
And do make extra. People always want seconds. And if they don't, extra sauce keeps in the fridge for several days. Reheated, it's good on pancakes, waffles and French toast as well as on more ice cream.
BANANAS FOSTER
Serves 8
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
8 bananas, peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and then each piece in half crosswise
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
large pinch sea salt
1 cup dark rum (such as Meyer’s)
2 tablespoons banana liqueur (optional)
2 pints best quality vanilla ice cream
Method
1. In a large skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the bananas in one layer.
Sprinkle with the sugar, cinnamon and salt. After the first side browns and begins to caramelize (about 1 minute), use a spatula to gently turn and brown the second side. Turn a few more times until the sugar melts and the sauce thickens and caramelizes. Don’t let it burn, but short of burning the more sticky and caramelized, the better.
Turn off the heat but leave the skillet on the burner. Stir in 1/4 cup of the rum being careful not to break up the bananas.
Meanwhile warm the rum in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour the warmed rum carefully over the bananas and ignite with a match. Shake pan and stir until all the flames die out. Be careful not to catch anything on fire.
Serve in dessert bowls over or under vanilla ice cream.