BANANAS FOSTER MARTINI - Tribute to Brennan's Bananas Foster

This Bananas Foster Martini is my tribute to a great dining experience and to one of the best desserts I ever tasted - Bananas Foster, created and made famous by Brennan's of New Orleans.

If you've ever had the privilege of visiting New Orleans, chances are you made sure to visit the world famous Brennan's Restaurant. I know I did - in fact I went twice on my first visit to N'awlins! On my first day in this wonderful jazz and party atmosphere city I made a point to get my reservation in so I could sample their globally renowned food.

I was particularly looking forward to the Bananas Foster as it was created at Brennan's and is one of their signature dishes. This classic dessert from a classic restaurant did not disappoint and I soon hunted down their recipe and started making it at home.

This martini has the essence of the wonderful flavors of that inspired dessert - the caramel sauce drizzle brings in the caramelising of the bananas in the brown sugar, the cream hints at the ice cream, the rum of course is the rum flavor and the banana liqueur and banana garnish with a little sprinkle of cinnamon round out the famous dessert's flavors!

Below is a little history on the creation of this dessert and the recipe directly from Brennan's Website for their famous Bananas Foster.

Bananas Foster dessert was created in 1951 by Chef Paul for Brennan's of New Orleans. This now famous dessert was created for a challenge by Owen Edward Brennan who wanted to promote imported bananas (New Orleans was a major port of entry for bananas in the fifties) and also as a recipe for a feature article on Brennan's in Holiday Magazine.

It was named for Richard Foster who was a favored customer of Brennan's as well as a personal friend to Owen.

According to the restaurant, thirty-five thousand pounds of bananas are flamed each year at Brennan's to create this world dessert for it's clientele.

Brennan's Recipe for it's famous
BANANAS FOSTER

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup banana liqueur
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved
1/4 cup dark rum
vanilla ice cream, (four scoops according to Brennan's!)

Directions:

Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet.
Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan.
When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum.
Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum.
When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream.
Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

Hop on over to The Diva of Tiny Foods this week - it's banana week there too!
Bon Appetite, ma cher!

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