Bananas

Bananas are my absolute favorite fruit. I eat them as a snack, on cereal, with peanut butter... I could go on and on. So I'm very excited that today's food is, you guessed it, bananas.

"Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of crisps each and four bananas"

(Sorcerer's Stone 44).

It would be easy to say you should just grab a banana, peel it, and chow down. Which, of course, is probably what poor starving Harry did out in the shack on the rock with his miserable family. But I have always wanted to try my hand at Bananas Foster, and this seems to be the perfect opportunity! 

Obviously a dessert from New Orleans has nothing at all to do with Harry Potter... 

...except that bananas are the main ingredient. 

So there. 

That's my justification and I'm sticking to it! 

I found this recipe on the website for Brennan's, which is the restaurant in New Orleans where the dish originated. Looking for a really easy dessert that will really impress your friends? Make Bananas Foster. You won't be disappointed.

You Will Need:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup banana liqueur

4 bananas (I couldn't fit more than 3.5 in my pretty large skillet though)

1/4 cup dark rum

Vanilla Ice cream

Side Note: Can anyone tell me why my photo of the ingredients has gotten corrupted for the last several recipes?? It's usually the first photo I take when I turn on the camera... any thoughts?

1. Peel the bananas and slice them in half lengthwise, and then in half crosswise.

2. Melt the butter in a flambe pan over low heat (any pan that can deal with fire is fine), and immediately add the sugar and cinnamon. Stir until sugar "melts" (mine didn't so much melt as combine into a paste).

3. Stir in the banana liqueur (this is the point at which my sugar seemed to actually dissolve), and place the bananas in the pan.

4. When the banana sections begin to soften and brown (the browning will be difficult to see, as the part of the bananas below the syrup will brown faster), carefully add the rum.

5. When the rum is heated (happens pretty quickly), ignite the rum. This can be done multiple ways. If you are using a gas stove, tip the pan slightly and the flame will ignite it. If not, use a long-stem lighter or matches (be careful!).

6. When the flames subside (mine only burned for a second), lift the bananas out of the pan and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with the extra syrup from the pan.

Soooo delicious! I hope you love it! Yay bananas!