Baked Bananas and Banana Sorbet (serves 4) © Kevin Ashton 2008
At this time of the year when schedules get hectic and waistlines get plump I thought I do something light and slightly different.
Did you know bananas originally contained hard seeds that were scattered throughout the fruit? Truly a world fruit that was first cultivated in Asia as far back as 8,000 BC. I often think of bananas coming from the Caribbean or South America but in-fact India is currently the largest producer. Now grown in 107 countries, bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium.
Ingredients
6 small bananas
100g (4oz) shelled Pistachios
Juice of 2 limes
4 tbsp of honey
Banana Sorbet
1. Blanch the pistachios in boiling (rolling) water for 2-3 minutes to loosen the skins,
then cool under water.
2. Rub the pistachios together to remove their skins and then drain on several sheets of paper towel. Reserve ¼ and chop the rest finely.
Optional Sugar Decoration
100 (4oz) Vanilla sugar
125ml (½ pint) cold water
To do this you need a small non-stick saucepan, pastry brush, sugar thermometer and a non-stick baking tray.
Cook the sugar and water on a medium heat until you reach the hard crack stage
(Hard Crack 152 - 163°C (305 - 325°F the sugar mixture will separate into threads, which are brittle and hard). From time to time take a wet pastry brush and remove any crystals forming on the sides of the saucepan.
At the correct temperature pour the syrup onto the non-stick tray and make it spread out thinly by moving and tilting the tray.
Allow to cool for 1 minute then sprinkle on just a few of the reserved pistachios.
3. Preheat your to 190 C gas mark 5
4. Combine the limejuice and honey and cook until it is a syrupy consistency again.
5. Cut the bananas lengthwise in half and brush lightly with the syrup.
6. Cook in a large non-stick frying just for 1-2 minutes until they are nicely brown on the cut side.
7. Transfer the bananas to a baking tray and cook in the oven 2 minutes and then remove.
To Serve
At one end of the plate use a medium sized pastry (cookie) cutter and spoon in the chopped pistachios. Place a scoop of the banana sorbet onto the nuts. Lay 3 halves on bananas on each plate and drizzle with the remaining syrup. Decorate with a shard of the hard crack pistachio sugar.
Chef’s Tips
Vanilla sugar is just sugar that has been flavoured by storing used vanilla pods in it.
I do this to the empty vanilla pods rather than throw them away.
If your unble to buy banana sorbet I will be posting my recipe soon..so keep checking back.
