Sautéed Bananas!

foodI think I have a new favourite cooked fruit dessert. It’s easy to prepare, healthier than a lot of other desserts, plus it’s gluten-free and dairy-free. Not to mention that it tastes good.

Last week, among the six of us at Friday night dinner, there was a new mix of  food restrictions. An interesting challenge for me, because I like trying new recipes, and I like to make food that everyone at my table can eat. My dinners are usually low in gluten and lactose, but this time I also had to avoid alcohol, and there was a possibility that one person would be restricted to soft foods.

I thought of sautéed bananas right away, but the recipe for Bananas Flambé that I’ve made in the past (from Bonnie Stern’s Simply HeartSmart Cooking) calls for rum.

I felt I was on the right track when I found a YouTube video for Betty’s Luscious Fried Bananas. It looked wonderful, but I wanted to tone down the richness and the sweetness.

I substituted coconut oil for butter, increased the number of bananas, decreased the ratio of sugar to bananas, and added a couple of spices. It still turned out delicious and sweet. There was a small amount left over, and we enjoyed it two days later.

My one caveat – I find there’s a big variation in taste among different coconut oils, so use one you like. When I started to sauté the bananas, I thought the coconut oil might overpower the banana flavour. I decided that if I sprinkled toasted coconut on top, the flavour would seem more intentional. Everyone seemed to like it.

We ate the dessert on its own, but it would also be great as a warm topping for ice cream or plain cake.

Here’s the (non-)recipe. No amounts needed, and you can play with the spicing. It’s quick enough to prepare last-minute.

Frances’ Fried Bananas (inspired by Betty)

unsweetened flaked coconut (optional)

coconut oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan, plus a little more)

ripe, but not over-ripe, bananas (I used 6)

lemon juice

brown sugar (I used 2 or 3 tablespoons)

cinnamon to taste

nutmeg to taste

sea salt

1. If using flaked coconut, toast in non-stick pan on low heat until coconut starts to turn brown. Set aside.

2. Cut bananas in diagonal slices.

3. Heat coconut oil in large frying pan on medium heat.

4. Add bananas, and sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon,  nutmeg, and a bit of sea salt.

5. Saute, reducing heat, and stirring carefully, until cooked but not too soft.

6. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, if you like.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Sunday – Chocolate Strawberries, and Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters!

I’ve been making chocolate-covered strawberries for years, but this week I learned something new about the process.

It hadn’t occurred to me to look for instructions – how hard is it to melt chocolate and dip strawberries in it? But, because I was planning to blog about it, I looked online to see what was already there.

I found this recipe, which recommends placing the strawberries stem-side down to allow the chocolate to dry. Light-bulb moment – I realized that my chocolate never dried smoothly in the past because I placed the strawberries sideways, not upright. There was always a flat side to the chocolate.

The recipe also suggests placing the fresh-dipped strawberries on a wire rack. I missed that bit, probably because I was multi-tasking and had already put waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Strawberry stems are not inherently flat, and some of them didn’t want to stand up. But if I was very careful about placing them just so against the sides of the sheet, I was able to compensate for that.

Strawberries are on the “dirty dozen” produce list, so I try to buy organic when I can to avoid pesticides. I had found gorgeous strawberries at Organic Garage, and wanted to make sure to use them quickly.

I used only the perfect ones for dipping, and cut up the rest for breakfast the next morning.

You can melt almost any chocolate for dipping. I used three squares each from two large Lindt chocolate bars, one with 70 percent cacao content (“dark”) and the other with 85 percent (“intense dark”). The dark chocolate is twice as sweet as the intense dark (8 grams of sugar per three squares, compared to 4), and I thought the mix would be a good compromise.

After I dipped the strawberries, I coated pomegranate seeds with the remaining chocolate. In all, there was enough chocolate for about 15 strawberries and just over a dozen pomegranate clusters.

The strawberries looked more elegant, but the pomegranate seed clusters were more interesting, with fruity bursts of liquid inside each bite-sized cluster.

My niece makes chocolate blueberry clusters, which are equally refreshing. I thought about making them too, and found a recipe here. But in the end, I had just the right ratio of chocolate to fruit without the blueberries.

Chocolate Strawberries, and Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

15 perfect strawberries

1/3 to 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (I’m guessing the amount; forgot to measure!)

3 squares Lindt dark chocolate (from 100-gram bar)

3 squares Lindt intense dark chocolate (from 100-gram bar)

1. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper.

2. Wash strawberries, and dry gently but thoroughly with paper towel.

3. Spread pomegranate seeds on paper towel to dry, placing more paper towel on top of the seeds to dry them completely.

4. Melt chocolate in pyrex bowl on low heat in microwave, checking frequently to make sure it doesn’t overheat. Great instructions here, if you want more information.

5. Stir chocolate to ensure it is completely melted, and to combine the two types.

6. Dip dried strawberries into chocolate, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl.

7. Place strawberries stem-side down on lined cookie sheet to dry.

8. Add dried pomegranate seeds to remaining chocolate, and stir together to coat the seeds.

9. Using two teaspoons, form clusters of pomegranate seeds, and place on cookie sheet to dry.

10. Put cookie sheet in fridge for 15 minutes to allow chocolate to set, or leave at room temperature until set.

Enjoy!