Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Okay, okay, I know I’m out of control with all the blog posts about ice cream, but I can’t help it – ice cream is what’s inspiring me right now! After 6 months of blog posts, I feel like I’m floundering around a bit for new recipes to post here. Most of the time we eat variations on a theme of stuff I’ve already talked about here, and no one likes blog re-runs, so it’s been a little quiet on the blog lately.

But not to worry, our summer veggie farm share is about to start, so every week we’ll be getting a giant box of produce and eggs, and I love the creative challenge of coming up with new dishes based on the very seasonal produce we receive – so expect a summer of veggie-love ahead!

In the meantime, enjoy this nearly dairy-free ice cream. I was reading David Lebovitz’ Perfect Scoop again, and he had a recipe for roasted banana ice cream, and I loved the idea of it, as it reminded me of my favorite dessert at Cafe Iberico – bananas with homeade caramel. I love anything with caramel! I wanted to make a mostly dairy-free ice cream, and add a little spice to it with some ground cloves, and a bit of crunch with pecans. This ice cream is simple to make, and chock-full of banana flavor – use your super-ripe-on-the-edge-of-spoiling bananas for this recipe. The addition of the maple pecans and topping it with some homeade hot fudge truly made this one a de-constructed banana split.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

4 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T butter
2 cups of coconut milk
1 T vanilla
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 pinch of salt
2 T rum

Maple pecan mix-in:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 T maple syrup
pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice the bananas into 1/2″ slices ans place in an oven-proof pyrex and toss with the brown sugar. Dot the top of the bananas with small pieces of butter. Bake for 40 minutes, sitrring once halfway through.
2. While the bananas are roasting, make the maple pecans. Toast the chopped pecans in a pan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, shaking the pan often so that they don’t burn. When the pecans are fragrant, pour in the maple syrup and stir quickly to coat the pecans, adding a pinch of salt as you stir. Turn the pecans out onto a piece of parchment, and pop them in the freezer.
3. When the bananas are done, scoop them into a blender quickly, before the caramel hardens up. Pour in the coconut milk, salt, vanilla and allspice. Puree the mixture, being careful to vent the top of the blender while covering with a towel so that the hot bananas don’t explode. Pour the smooth mixture into a large bowl. Stir in the rum, and chill in the fridge until you’re ready to turn the ice cream.
4. Turn the ice cream in your ice cream maker for about 30 minutes. When the ice cream is just about done, carefully pour in the maple pecans, breaking them up as you go. Spoon the finished ice cream into a freezer container, and store for a couple of hours before you serve. If you care to, top the ice cream with some homeade chocolate sauce or hot fudge.