Goin' Bananas

As planned, I put together a curry for G & C in celebration of G’s birthday. I’m not going to share the recipe here because I’d still like to tweak it a bit. In essence, though, I made a chicken curry with rice and served it with a tray of condiments, which allowed everyone to pick and choose which toppings they liked. It’s a good way to experiment with combos.

Condiments included:

Candied ginger
Chopped cashews
Bacon
Chopped hard-boiled egg
Toasted coconut
Chopped banana
Mango Chutney (recipe coming soon)
Golden raisins (sultanas)

I wanted a dessert that would compliment the meal and kind of winged this one. I knew I wanted to use bananas since I bought some to serve as condiments for the curry. And, since I had opened a can of condensed milk for the Honey Walnut Shrimp, I decided to use the remainder of it to make a dulce de leche, which amounted to putting the condensed milk in a double boiler and cooking it for about an hour until it began to caramelize. Of course, hard on the heels of making this I totally spaced it and also made the spiced apple caramel from Thanksgiving.

What can I say? SHORT attention span.

I also figured I’d throw in a chocolate sauce and made Alton Brown’s version (see link below).

So, when it all came together it looked something like this…

Phyllo Wrapped Bananas

4 firm, but ripe bananas
12 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
½ stick butter, melted
5 tsp sugar
4 tsp cinnamon

Dulce de leche (or other caramel), heated
Cocoa Syrup (recipe here)

Spicy Caramel Apple Sauce (recipe here)

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl (this is an approximate measurement - make more if needed depending on how generous you want to be).

Preheat oven to 375º.  On a work surface, lay out one sheet of the phyllo.  Using a pastry brush, brush with a light coat of the melted butter.  Sprinkle with about 1 tsp of the sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Lay another sheet of the phyllo evenly on top of the first sheet.  Coat it with more butter and then sprinkle with another tsp of cinnamon sugar.  Repeat with the final layer.  Place one peeled banana at the end of your stacked sheets.  Roll the phyllo over the banana and tuck under the loose ends.  Place on a cookie sheet.

Repeat with other bananas.  Coat with more melted butter.  Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top of the rolled bananas if desired.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the phyllo is golden brown.
To assemble:  'Paint a small portion of dulce de leche on the bottom of the plate.  Place a baked banana over the top and drizzle with spiced caramel and cocoa syrup.  Sprinkle with toasted almonds and powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

I Did a Bad, Bad Thing

I remember the first time I had Honey Walnut Shrimp. I was with a friend at a local Chinese restaurant, and he’d ordered it, although it wasn’t on the menu. And so for a while I thought it was this super secret item that only a fortunate few knew about. Then I saw it on menus all over the place.

Anyway, as I continue to placate O2’s aversion to meat, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and make my own Honey Walnut Shrimp at home, which turned out to be remarkably easy and quick enough to make it a mid-week friendly meal. I served this with a side of baby bok choy which was flash fried with a bit of garlic (ok, a LOT of garlic) and then steamed slightly.

Don’t ask why it didn’t make it into the picture.

Have I ever mentioned my short attention span??

Squirrel…

Anyway, if you're of the low-fat, low-calorie foods ilk, click on, my friend.  We're talking sugar, mayo and fried things.  And I'm not about to apologize.

Honey Walnut Shrimp

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, smashed
1-¼ lbs raw large shrimp, thawed, peeled and deveined
½ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper
1/3 cup corn starch
½ - 1 cup canola or vegetable oil (enough to cover the bottom of a pan)

½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup walnuts, halved (I used chopped)

¼ cup good quality mayonnaise
1 tsp honey
2 tsp sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp black sesame seeds
¼ cup green onion, chopped

Combine garlic, ginger and shrimp in a bowl. Stir well to combine and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and swirl pan until mixture starts to turn an amber color. Add salt and walnuts. Continue to cook and stir the walnuts (the sugar will crystallize and become a ‘sandy’ consistency and then will begin to melt again. When sugar has melted, spread walnuts onto a cookie sheet. Separate into a single layer and allow to cool.

In another bowl, combine the mayo, honey, condensed milk and vinegar.

Heat the canola oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, add the salt, pepper and corn starch to the shrimp and stir to combine. When oil is hot, drop the shrimp into the oil. Cook and stir until shrimp begins to turn opaque and becomes golden on one side. Flip over and cook the other side just until it begins to brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add the shrimp to the mayo mixture and toss to combine.

Serve the shrimp over cooked rice and garnish with sesame seeds, green onion and the candied walnuts.