Bananas Foster

Dessert on Cajun/Creole night was the tooth-decayingly delicious Bananas Foster. Sadly, I didn’t nab my cell in time to get a picture of the flames climbing all the way to the ceiling, but it was spectacular.

The basics: Bananas, butter, brown sugar, banana liqueur, and rum. Carmelize the brown sugar in the butter into a creamy paste (be patient, this takes a while), stir in banana liqueur, stir in bananas, add the (warmed) rum, and light it all on fire. We politely ignored Taggart’s suggestions for fancy presentation in the dining room and just gathered everyone around the stove while our skilled friend Greg rocked the flambé, then served the mixture over vanilla ice cream.

Changes: We doubled the recipe to make it go around, but actually reduced the amount of banana liqueur to 1oz. The stuff is insanely strong (bonus points for the surprisingly drinkable shots Greg made us with it while we were cooking). Also, be sure to use very high proof rum to get it to light on fire. A cheap 151 will do just fine.
Would I make it again: My teeth and stomach say NO!, but my tongue says HELL YES.

Creole Sides

As you can probably tell, last Sunday was Cajun/Creole night, courtesy of Chuck Taggart’s fantastic Gumbo Pages. I was responsible for starch & vegetable, starting with:

Dirty Rice
The recipe starts with a shortcut for homemade chicken stock. You then pan fry uncooked converted rice in a whole lot of butter, add celery, onion, green bell pepper, garlic, and parsley, and cook the whole mixture in the broth. Estimated total time about 2 hours including simmering chicken parts in water for the “stock.”

Changes: I got lazy and just bought a pack of gizzards for the pieces for the broth, which turned out fine.
Would I make it again: Yes- YUM. I’d probably try their suggestion of cooking a whole chicken as the main dish and using the discarded parts to make the “stock.”

The “healthy” side was a Green Bean & Artichoke Casserole
This features green beans and artichoke hearts mixed with onion and garlic, smothered in bread crumbs and parmesan, and baked to delicious.

Changes: I used frozen everything due to a rotten bean snafu at the produce stand, and I would definitely like to try it again with fresh veggies. Also, the recipe calls for Italian bread crumbs and I just bought plain ol’ bread crumbs and added a little thyme. Worked just fine.
Would I make it again: It was a tasty enough dish and went great with gumbo, but I couldn’t see bothering with it in any other context. I like to experience my veggies a little more.