Bananas

When I was a kid, I refused to eat any banana that wasn?t pristine yellow and free of brown spots. Now, I bake with bananas far more often than I eat them fresh, so I find myself buying bananas and letting them sit for a week so they get as close to black as possible for easy, sweet mixing into whatever cupcake, muffin, cake or quick bread I?m cooking up.

I?d been working on a recipe for gluten-free banana bread, and after several dismal results I decided it was one of those things that needed a little space. Now that summer is right around the corner, I can comfortably forget about banana bread, or any other oven-intensive stuff, for at least five months.

After the banana bread debacle, I still had a few blackish bananas left. I could neither toss nor eat them. (Old habits die hard. Or not at all in the case of me and overripe bananas.) Then one of my girlfriends told me she just made a ?funky-looking banana pudding? that tasted great. Eureka! That?s what I would make.

Having never made banana pudding before, I consulted Mark Bittman?s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. (I know, I just wrote about him last week!) I made a few tweaks to his recipe, and I?m lucky I even got to taste it. The Teenage Hoover ate the entire bowl all by himself! I guess it could be worse?I may have had to eat the entire bowl all by myself.


Banana Pudding
Gluten-free
Serves 4
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

You can use whole milk for this if you want. I rarely have milk in the house and when I do, it?s low-fat, so that?s why I used low-fat for this. If you?re really adventurous, you can probably whisk the bananas into mush and use them as part of the pudding. I haven?t tried this yet, so I can?t vouch for the outcome. You can also use regular sugar in place of the maple syrup, which is pretty flippin? pricey. Use ¼ cup. The sugar in the overripe bananas sweetens the pudding beautifully.

1½ cups low-fat milk
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
1 dash salt
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional but good)

1. Combine the milk, bananas and salt into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. When milk begins to steam, turn off heat and cover. Steep bananas for 20 minutes.

2. Strain the bananas, pushing out a bit of the liquid from them. Pour the milk back into the saucepan. Whisk in the cream, maple syrup, then whisk in the cornstarch. Make sure to whisk in the cornstarch well or you will have lumps. Cook on low heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture starts to thicken and begins to boil, about 5 minutes. Turn heat off. Whisk in the butter and vanilla.

3. Pour pudding into 4 ramekins or a small bowl and cover with plastic. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream if you?re so inclined.