After a disastrous attempt at making a flan for our last dinner party, I needed to come up with an emergency substitute. Luckily I've been on a smoothie kick lately and had some bananas and berries on hand. This was not only a life-saver, but super quick and easy to make while the Bear cleared the dinner plates.
Strawberry-Lime Fried Bananas
Serves 4
4 fresh, firm bananas
2 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter
5 tablespoons cane sugar
2 cups strawberries, quartered and then halved
Juice of 1 lime
5-6 large basil leaves, sliced in ribbons (optional)
Hull the strawberries and quarter them lengthwise. If you want them smaller, cross-cut the quarters.
To prepare the basil chiffonade, stack the leaves and roll them lengthwise into a tight bundle. Then cut the roll cross-wise into thin ribbons.
Combine the strawberries and basil in a bowl with the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Refrigerate while you prepare the bananas. If, unlike me, you happen to have the foresight to plan ahead, you can prepare this up to 2-3 hours earlier.
Peel bananas. Slice lengthwise, then cross-cut in half.
Heat the butter in a wok or frying pan until the butter bubbles. Add the banana slices and fry them on both sides over medium heat until they are golden and soft. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the bananas. You can stir everything together until the sugar dissolves (making a thick-ish syrup) or just let it caramelize on the bananas. They're done whenever they look like you want to eat them.
Transfer to serving plates, spoon the strawberries (which should be deliciously gooey by now) over the bananas and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
So delicious the Bear literally lapped up every last drop of berry juice.
Sneaky Vegan dessert - 1, Flan - 0.
Hoo-rah.
