When I first saw this recipe in Chef Gregoire Michaud's Never Skip Dessert last year, I had eagerly bookmarked it. I remember thinking to myself, this is like a creme brulee in a banana - as opposed to the banana in creme brulee which I had made before... :) The clever quirkiness of this dish appeals to me and the recipe seems easy enough. Chef Michaud had included a Yuzu Thyme Ice Cream as a second component to this dish. I decided I can cut myself some slack and serve it with a store bought vanilla ice cream. Easy peasy, no?
But little had I expected to work through a whole bunch of bananas and still not get a decent shot at this.... Don't get me wrong, the preparation of the baked banana was simple enough and it tasted delicious with a crispy crust of caramelised sugar on top.
What stumped me was that wretched scoop of ice cream! Getting the ice cream to thaw to just the right texture to get a perfect quenelle proved to be especially tricky! By the time I got the ice cream to thaw / freeze right, the bananas had wilted out on me. Then, by the time I baked a second batch of bananas, the sky turned impossibly dark as stormy weather set in.... I had no choice but to do this again the next day and this time round, I decided to just skip the scoop of ice cream altogether.
This is a great great way to serve a tropical dessert. If you like bananas, the sweetness of the fruit pairs really well with the vanilla custard.
Be sure to use a ripe banana to ensure the best flavour and do not get alarmed when your banana turns black in the oven. I actually find it quite cool to plate a charcoal black banana.... :)
Baked Banana
Recipe : (from Never Skip Dessert by Gregoire Michaud)
3 pcs Large curved bananas
150gm Milk
150gm Cream
40g Sugar
1.5pc Eggs
1 pc Vanilla pod (scraped to get vanilla beans)
Method :
1. Boil milk, cream, sugar and vanilla beans.
2. Strain this into eggs and mix well
3. Preheat oven to 190C.
4. Slice the banana length wise in half.
5. Remove the pulp from the banana. Chop up the pulp and lay a few pieces in the banana skin.
6. Place the banana on a baking tray and fill it with the custard cream.
7. Bake at 190C for 20mins.
8. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sugar. Using a blow torch, caramelise the sugar.
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18 comments:
You made this with one whole bunch of bananas? How many did you eat in 2 days?
I wish I am your neighbour, then I can help you eat, so can my kids.
Shirley, I was thinking what to do with my bunch of banana and I saw your post on my reading list. Can I use overly ripe banana?
@Wendy: My banana bunch are quite small - just 3 to 4 bananas. But still that is quite alot. No I didn't eat all by myself. I ate only one. The rest... when they turn cold and soggy, don't taste nice so I threw them out. I had to make a judgement call - to waste my calories or waste the bananas? I chose the latter. I may have to go to Banana Hell for it but I won't worry about it now.
@Ann - You certainly can try. My only worry is, the overly ripe banana skin may not be able to the hold the shape in the oven....
oh yeah, lots of interesting recipes and ideas from the book that i have yet to try..
What a fantastic dessert! I would love to serve this for a dinner party. And another cookbook for my ever growing list!
what a cool dessert!! Pity about the ice-cream but I think this is just as good without it!
Wow ... so tempting!
Love this... Would like to make this out of big bananas..
This is the coolest thing I have ever seen! I love it!!
Very Cool!! I dont think the ice cream was needed :)
Nice post..
What a cool presentation! I love this recipe. Yum!
SO cool! can't wait to try this recipe!
I like how you transform an everyday fruit like banana into five-star quality (food and presentation) dessert :)
Very nice!! :) Thanks for the mention! Your version looks almost better than my one!!
No way, chef! Mine is too far away... you never have to work through a whole bunch of bananas... and the quenelle is missing :D
the recepy is kind of confusing to understand
this looks so awesome! it's probably one of the coolest recipe i've ever seen! i've gotta give this a try sometime soon! thank you so much for sharing!
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