Spiced Poached Bananas, a perfectly quick-fix little jewel, when the sweet tooth calls.
You know that moment, late in the evening while relaxing after a particularly rich and satisfying dinner, the conversation wanes and someone says, “Does anyone feel like something sweet?”
Spiced Poached Bananas has been a go-to recipe for just such moments, when in the later hours even a batch of Lazy Brownies is just way too much work. This humble little jewel recipe allows me to slip into the kitchen, locate the usual random bananas on premises, along with a few pantry staples; dark brown sugar, dark rum, cinnamon and the ever present freezer pint of vanilla ice cream, and in 10 minutes, voilà, dessert.
Poaching fruit is a favorite in the Bijouxs kitchen, in fall delicate diminutive pears and summer brings ripe cherries simmered in red wine. Simmering fruit in a light bath preserves the lovely form of the fruit, while infusing it with sweet flavors.
Spiced Poached Bananas is a lighter cousin to classic dish Bananas Foster, omitting the rich butter sauce and flourish of flamed liquor, instead a delicate bath of dark rum, sweetened gently with dark brown sugar and spiced with cinnamon produces creamy, tender fruit served warm, topped with vanilla ice cream.
Most times this dish is served unceremoniously straight from the pan, photographed here in what I describe the process moment, simple everyday kitchen beauty. Called to gather around the kitchen table, diners yield their requisitioned soup spoons in hand required for quickly capturing ample spoonfuls of tender bananas, delicate syrup and cool creamy ice cream.
COOK’S NOTES: For best results, choose bananas that are ripe but still firm for ease in transferring in and out of the pan, although those a little-bit-too-ripe bananas still work, as seen here, their crumbled pieces just as delicious, along with a few toasted pecans for good measure. You can of course properly plate the dish for guests, in that case I slice the bananas while whole, into large diagonal slices, slightly reducing the poaching time and serving the warm bananas slices with poaching syrup over scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Spiced Poached Bananas – a simple little treasure from Bijouxs jewel box of recipes.
As always, enjoy. B
