Banana Split with Caramelized Banana

The recipe Virginia brings us today (author of Sweet&Sour) is a refreshing proposal that you'll love to prepare and, without a doubt, you'll love to present at the table, because everyone at your home will greatly enjoy it. Let's go for this delicious banana split!

The heat has arrived, and whether we like it or not, ice creams and chilled desserts occupy our table. In this case I propose a restyling of a dessert that was very fashionable on restaurant menus in the 70s and 80s, the famous Banana Split.

The Banana Split or banana boat is a dessert served on a long dish and consists of a banana split in half and served with abundant ice cream, whipped cream, nuts and topped with a cherry.

Fleur de Ligne porcelain dish

It was devised in the early 20th century in the USA; some say in 1904 in the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, others say in 1907 in Ohio, originating from a baking contest that the Erns Peligro restaurant held among its employees to attract students from Wilmington College. To give you an idea, both cities celebrate Banana Split Day. In any case, the popularity of this dessert is due to its commercialization through the Walgreens chain.

The version I propose today is, in my opinion, much richer, and consists of caramelizing the banana. In this case we will pair it with a homemade vanilla ice cream delicious, addictive caramel sauce and of course plenty of whipped cream and cherries since they are in season.

Let's get to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (For 2 servings)

• 2 medium bananas
• 1 knob of butter
• Sugar
• Cream heavy cream for whipping (35%)
• Caramel Sauce or Dulce de Leche Havanna
• Nuts
• Cherries

Caramel Sauce:

• 115gr of butter
• 115gr of brown sugar
• 140ml of cream
• 1 pinch of salt

For the vanilla ice cream (For about 1 liter of ice cream)

• 720ml of heavy cream for whipping (35%)
• 240ml of whole milk
• 140gr of granulated sugar
• 35gr of inverted sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 fresh, juicy vanilla bean
• 1 tablespoon of Nomu vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt (1/4 of tsp)

PREPARATION

We caramelize the bananas:

1. We open the bananas lengthwise from top to bottom, with their peel on, and sprinkle sugar on the opened half of the banana.
2. We put a non-stick frying pan on the heat with the knob of butter and when it heats up, we place the bananas face down until they are caramelized and have a crunchy golden crust. Set aside.

We prepare the caramel sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat and stirring continuously, place the butter, brown sugar and cream until everything has dissolved.
2. Raise the heat slightly and wait for a gentle simmer. Add the pinch of salt and leave at that gentle simmer for about 4-5 minutes while continuing to stir so the mixture doesn't stick, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Kitchen Aid ice cream maker and Fleur de Ligne porcelain dish

Let's make the ice cream:

1. With the tip of a sharp knife cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Set aside.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan put the cream, milk, the vanilla seeds and the pod itself. Cook over medium heat until you see it begin to boil and when that happens remove it from the heat.
3. Cover it for about 30 minutes so it cools and above all so the mixture infuses with the vanilla. After this time, add the sugars and salt and stir well.
4. Return to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until you see the sugars dissolved. This will take about 5 minutes. Remove again from the heat and let cool. Remove the vanilla pod.
5. Beat the yolks using a whisk in a rather large bowl and add the vanilla extract to enhance the flavor. While stirring continuously, gradually add the milk, cream and sugar mixture. Whisk until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
6. Return this mixture to medium-low heat, stirring continuously until you see it thicken and have a consistency similar to custard, but without allowing the mixture to boil, otherwise the egg will curdle. The temperature must not exceed 85ºC, which is the temperature at which the egg would coagulate. For extra safety you can use a kitchen thermometer.
7. When our mixture has thickened without boiling, let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours, until the mixture is really cold. This mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, no more.
8. When our mixture is really cold, transfer it to our ice cream maker; if you use the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker, keep it at speed 1 for about 20-25 minutes.
9. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you know the drill: into the freezer for about half an hour, remove and beat to prevent crystal formation. Repeat the operation at least twice more, until it acquires a creamy texture.
10. Once our ice cream is ready, place it in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours so it finishes freezing perfectly, since now we'll have a semi-frozen cream that will have doubled-tripled its volume. If it stays longer, you should take it out about 15 minutes before serving so it softens slightly.

We assemble the Banana Split:

Place the caramelized bananas face up, add a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, cover with salted caramel sauce, whipped cream, nuts and crown with a cherry. Share spoons and dig in!

Tips

• You can caramelize the banana using the kitchen torch, but in my opinion it's much tastier roasted in the pan with a knob of butter.
• Keep in mind that when the caramel sauce cools it thickens a lot and what is initially practically liquid will then become a dense, creamy, smooth and silky sauce. That's why it's better to err on the short side, since we can always fix it by returning the preparation to the heat for a few minutes, rather than overcooking and ending up with a gluey mess that's very difficult to fix if what we want is a sauce.
• If you have leftover caramel sauce and want to store it, pour it into a well-sterilized glass jar and let it cool without the lid on. Close it when it has cooled. It keeps very well in the refrigerator for about 10 days, if it lasts that long.
• For the banana split, you can use whichever ice cream you fancy most; for me, vanilla with caramel sauce is brutal, you can even combine several ice cream flavors.

Enjoy.

Virginia