Sweet Banana Flambée to heal that broken dream

Banana Raisins Rhum Flambée

It's been a long while I haven't been here. You must have been wondering what happened to my kitchen. I do apologize for this long inadvertent hiatus in the blogging world. My life in the past few months has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions; The move from my "tranquil" abode in the sunny part of France to the bustling city of Manila in South Asia. The reality of my childhood dream, the opening of my restaurant. And the hurtful decision to close it after few months of operation. We all make mistakes but what matters in life is seeing to it that we always try to bounce back everytime we fall. I know things happen for a reason. And if not for those failures that I made I will never realized how passionately in love I am with cooking.


My pasta restaurateur stint is over. I'm passing on the torn to it's dynamic new owner :-) and I can't wait to start my new cooking project only this time I see to it that neither my family nor my personal life is sacrificed in return.

Enjoy this easy and yummy dessert to make use of your overriped bananas in the kitchen!




Banana Raisin Rhum Flambée



ingredients:

overripe bananas (count two per persons)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of raisins
1 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
half a cup of Rhum
scoop of vanila ice-cream
preparation:

Heat your pan, add the butter, brown sugar and bananas. Cook them until it caramelizes. Pour the lemon juice. Add the Rhum and burn it on top. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream!

Flambéed Banana Tart Tatin

Pricking someone's conscience................

I know someone who know someone that knows someone who told me about this someone who cannot speak about thyself without romanticizing it. A little bit of it can be acceptable but when it becomes habitual and when is often blown out of proportion to purposely show-off to others is another story. I was raised to be always modest and honest to others and to myself but my path unfortunately always crosses with these kinds. My classmate in grade school, my friend in high school, our neighbor when I was growing up, my list is so loooooong. And I don't wanna be the one to cast the first stone but self gratifying cocky attitude is a crime.

But come to think of it, I've always loved the word respect, and so be it. Obviously, I think I just have to wait that time can heal this arrogance. Or well, I could probably just try to be an "adult" who minds my own business and accept things for they are. Or maybe an adult who loves these kinds of childish games :-)

I didn't grow these bananas but these are Fair-trade bananas cultivated from a small farm in Madagascar sent by a friend. I'm sending this over Amy of Playing House, our lovely host for this week's Grow Your Own, a delicious backyard and garden grown recipe event created by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes.

Banana Tarte Tatin

Ingredients:
4 to 5 bananas
200 g of sugar (about one cup)
1 pastry dough (recipe of Pate brisé here)
100 grams of butter (half a stick)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of white rhum

Procedure:
In your baking dish, put the butter (cut in small cubes), the lemon juice and sugar and make a caramel over low fire. Once the caramel thickens add your bananas. Remove from heat and let it cool. Put your pastry dough on the top and cover the entire banana caramel. Be sure that the edge are rightly tucked on the sides. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 200° celsius for 20 to twenty five minutes. Once it's golden brown slowly turn of the oven. Unmold the tarte delicately on your plate. Drizzle it with the rhum and flambée it infront of your guests.

And my little girl is doing well now, thanks for all your wishes and prayers :-)

Banana Fake Tiramisu

Banana Fake Tiramisu

Got milk?

Have you heard that Linda is hosting Got Milk, a food blogging event that requires milk as the main ingredient (or a non-dairy product check the link for details) in connivance with the celebration of the World Breastfeeding Week? It is an annual celebration concerned with the protection, promotion and support of breatfeeding worldwide. I am running for this cause because I believe this does not only concern women but everyone else.


When I was pregnant with my first baby I was shocked to meet a lot of pregnant moms in my classes who refused to breastfeed their babies claiming that it will destroy their beautiful bodies, that it will be painful and other several reasons. I respected their decision and I don't want to judge them. But I was really quite surprise of these moms' behavior to deny their child that greatest thing they could give them to help them have stronger bodies. But after I gave birth and started breastfeeding my baby, that is the only time I realised it wasn't easy afterall. My own experience was really painful and a bloody one. But I was really lucky to have a supportive and loving husband and a bunch of nurses that helped me all the way. Right now I have a daughter that is smart, strong, and vibrant and not a single moment I regret that decision to breastfeed her.

And oops, by the way, she just started walking yesterday few days even before her birthday. Isn't that great?


Banana Fake Tiramisu
(for 2 persons)

150 g of Fromage Blanc or Fromage Frais
2 tablespoons of condensed
2 tablespoons of honey
About 10-15 pieces of pounded graham crakers
10 g of melted butter
3 pieces of fresh bananas
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
some banana chips for decorations

In a bowl cream the fromage blanc with the milk and honey. Mix them well. You can add more honey if you wish a sweeter version. In another bowl mix the graham crackers with the melted butter. Assemble your tiramisu on your desired glasses or verrine. Put a layer of graham crackers butter mixture. Arrange nicely your cut bananas and then add your layer of fromage blanc-milk-honey mixture. Powder it with cacao on the top and some banana chips. Refrigerate for at least three hours before serving. You can replace bananas with other fruits of your choice: mango, peach, nectarine, etc.


My other tiramisu or banana recipes:

Banana and Honey Muffin with Nutella Swirl
Banana chocolate Crepe
Nutella Tiramisu with Dulche de leche

Banana Nutella and Maple Syrup Bread

Hungry no more, Banana Nutella Maple Syrup Bread

A banana a day keeps the doctor away.

I know that it should have been apple a day, but growing up from a tropical country where there are tons of variety of bananas that exist (small, medium, large, yellow, red, green you can use your imagination, it does exist! ) and at an affordable price a kilo, It is hard to imagine a day without savouring the delectability of this fruit. At least in our family.

I remember when we were kids, at home bananas are so abundant everyday that we often get tired of it's taste. My dad would use all his power in the kitchen by concocting different banana recipes: banana tempura, banana spring rolls, banana ice-candy, banana choco muffins. But our biggest all time favorite was dad's version of Banana brown sugar bread. Really scrumptious!

When I heard that Nigella is hosting an event on Banana Bread, I know this is my time to share this recipe. Today is the deadline, so you can check out the round up now.

Banana Nutella Maple Syrup Bread

2 cups of flour
1 pack of baking powder (about 1 tsp)
a pinch of salt
50 g of butter
3 eggs
3/4 cups brown sugar
3 tbsps of maple syrup
4 tbsps of nutella spread (more or less depending on your chocoaddiction)
about 4 large over ripe bananas

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together butter, maple syrup and brown sugar until it becomes creamy. Fold in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; then add delicately the nutella spread. Put batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for about an hour at 180°C until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Feed your imagination...

Banana and Honey Muffin with Nutella Swirl and a fashion show

Go banana with this muffin,
Banana & Honey muffin with Nutella Swirl

When I was still in the world of fashion the month of February is normally our busy days. The textile and future trends salon in Paris and of course the match awaited fashion shows of world's top-notch fashion designers with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel and others. It is for us the occassion to know what will be the fashion trends for the next collection. It is always inspiring to see how imaginative and creative they could be once you saw each collection walks in the catway. It is normally from there you start to germinate your own collection. And of course the excitement doubles when it is your work that is in the limelight. I must admit that the real thing I miss in this profession is the creativity part, brainstorming, designing, choosing the materials to work with and without forgetting my tons of friends in the business.

I have no regrets taking a pause in this industry to give way to my most beautiful creation (my daughter) and besides everyday I get a chance to liberate my artistic flair in the kitchen everytime I concoct a recipe for my blog. :-)

With very limited ingredients left in my fridge plus a little bit of my imagination enjoy this sweet muffin recipe with the small clip of the last spring-summer collection I designed.


Banana& Honey Muffin with Nutella Swirl

250 g of flour
100 g of sugar
6 tbsps of Honey
3 ripe bananas
50 g of bitter sweet chocolate
50 g of Nutella
3 eggs
1 sachet of baking powder
5 cl of milk

In bowl whisk the egg with sugar and honey. Eventually add the flour and baking powder. Pour in the milk and mix well until it becomes homogenous. In a separate bowl crush the bananas using the back of the fork and them in the mixture. Melt the chocolate bar in bain marie. Once the chocolate have completely melted add the nutella and mix well. Add half of this mixture in the egg-flour-honey-milk mixture. Pour the muffin mixture in muffin trays or in a ramekin. Add the swirl of nutella at the top of each muffin. Pre-heat the oven at 180° celsius and bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes. Before serving I glaced my muffins in honey to make it brilliant and shiny.

My Fairtrade Spring-Summer Collection

For my french readers, the french version of this muffin recipe is here: http://www.lesfoodies.com/hilda/recette/muffin-pomme-romarin