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.

Bay Leaves

Laurus nobilis - Bay Laurel

 

True bay leaves from various types of bay laurel trees. Used both fresh and dried. An aromatic herb that is used to flavor soups, stews, vegetables, olives, beets and meats. Three most significant supplies come from Mediterranean-Turkey (Laurus nobilis), India and California. The fragrance is more notable than its flavor in cooked food.

The leaf of the California bay (Umbellu­laria californica) tree is similar to the Mediterranean bay but has a stronger flavor. The very intense fla­vor of fresh bay leaves will mellow and become less bitter when dried. Premium bay leave are long, slender and intact. Unless in a pouch or wrapped in cheese-cloth, do not crumple the leaves. Even hours of cooking does not tenderize these, so small bits can get stuck in the throat.

umbellularia californica - Oregon Myrtle/ca Bay

Litsea glaucescens, laurel silvestre (aka Mexican bay leaf)  is from southern North America, mostly Mexico and may be used a substitute for Laurus nobilis. Due to overuse including ceremony of Palm Sunday, Mexican bay leaf has been declared as a protected species by law and its gathering is illegal. Mexican bay leaf is thinner-leafed, more silvery and more delicate in flavor than Mediterranean bay.

Like sage, many herbalist will claim these can cure almost anything.

Almost any stew, broth or soup can be improved with the addition of one or more bay leaves. "Bouquet garni" contains bay leaves as does marinades for olives or pickling spices. The bay is added to milk when preparing homemade rice puddings, ice creams or a white sauce.

Riff’s executive chef and owner John Platt makes a bay laurel butter that he serves with his Cedar Plank Salmon. I would make the butter by steeping 2 bay leaves per ¼ pound of clarified butter over a low flame for 20 minutes. (Clarify the butter will help prevent the butter from darkening.)

Pearl Street Plank Rubbed Salmon

 

This recipe uses a tasty and handy rub that truly is delicious on salmon. It is made by the Savory Spice shop. (Pearl Street Plank Rub invented by Dan Hayward, Savory Spice Shop Owner, Boulder Colorado and probably inspired by Pearl Street Mall’s Riff Restaurant that has Cedar Plank Salmon on their menu. Fo another recipe that uses this rub see sweet-potato-fries

Select fresh salmon steaks or filet sections that are bright and pink. Salmon you select should have bands of white streaks running through the flesh. (See picture - below)

Fatty Salmon¹

Salmon steak or filet – allow at least a ½ pound per person

Pearl Street Plank Rub

A very good olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

Line a thin sheet pan with heavy tin foil. Oil the tin foil liberally with olive oil.

Pat the fish dry and rub it very liberally with rub. Set the portions on the oiled tin foil leaving an inch between portions. Use a brush and lightly oil the salmon. Let salmon absorb the rub for 20 minutes before cooking. Bake at  375 F for 15 minutes, then raise the temperature to 425 F and cook until done (10~12 minutes depending on thickness and desired degree of doneness – do not overcook). [Despite a heavy rubbing, the spice does NOT overpower the flavor of the salmon.]

I like to serve this on aromatic steamed jasmine white rice topped with Iranian sumac.

Note:

1. A fatty salmon is regarded as the most richly flavored and chock-full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids