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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Spiced Bananas Flambé

This recipe is not unlike Bananas Foster which made from bananas and vanilla ice cream, with the sauce made from butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum, and banana liqueur. The French dessert Crêpe Suzette, consisting of a crêpe with a caramelized sugar-butter sauce, was probably a precursor to Bananas Foster. To make this more Caribbean (think of the Island of Martinique where the French first grew bananas) use rum instead of Brandy and use Orange Curacao liqueur.  Have a match handy to ignite the alcohol.

2 Firm ripe bananas split length wise down the middle.
4 tablespoons of turbinado or Demerara sugar (natural brown sugar)
1/2 cup of Napoleon Brandy
3 tablespoons of sweet butter
Top each banana slice with a mixture of ground cinnamon, allspice and cloves
¼ cup Contreau or orange Curaçao or Triple Sec
    
Heat a frying pan on medium high. Cut bananas down their middle length-wise. When the pan is hot, add the butter, and, when melted, add the bananas cut side down on buttered surface. Sprinkle each banana with a tablespoon of sugar. When the bananas begin to clear, turn each slice over carefully so as not to break the slices. Again, sprinkle each banana with a tablespoon of sugar. Cook for several minutes then add Contreau and Napoleon brandy. Hold face back from the pan and use a long match to ignite the fumes. If you have a microwave above your cook top, you may want ignite the fumes when the pan is away from the cook top. When the flames settle down, return the pan to the cook top. Cook to reduce liquids to a thick bubbly sauce. Use a spatula to carefully remove the bananas to the serving plates. Spoon some sauce over each banana.

Bananas and the resulting caramel sauce can be used to top a premium vanilla or pecan ice cream.

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