Banana Ice Cream With Salted Caramel Sauce

There a nip in the air. Uh oh! It feels like almost overnight that the temperature has been dropping, going from those glorious +30s to almost zero. I've been in denial for the past few days, denial because the summer did give us half a beautiful month. But I have to face it, its no longer summer, and autumn has made the decision to come by.

So the sweaters are coming out and the coats are being aired. Shorts and tees are (very sadly) being put away. Socks are turning woollen, and shoes are getting thicker. Sandals are but a distant memory. The wind is getting colder, and the sunshine is not warm anymore. The squirrels are busy hoarding spruce cones, rushing around tirelessly, from tree to den. The leaves are turning yellow, and Kay is keeping a lookout for frost, because the tomatoes and herbs have to come in. Grass is turning browner, and the trees look a bit sad. There are piles of yellow leaves on the lawns, and the vegetables are giving us one last bounty before winter sets in.

Yes, the seasons are changing. Having been brought up in the tropics, the changing seasons always fill me with wonder, even as I am complaining about the cold. Its amazing to see the world change colour, almost like its settling down to a long sleep. I will freely admit that winter is not my best season, but I do like the vivid colours of autumn, and the joy that I feel when Aditi rackets about in the leaves, and the crisp crunch of frozen grass below my feet.

Well, as autumn is almost upon us, I figured it was time to give summer one last hurrah, and pulled out my icecream machine. I mean, its not like I don't make ice cream in the winter, but there's something special about having a cold bowlful on a hot summers day, isn't there? I decided I wanted to make butter ice cream at first, but then realised I didn't have any butter. I looked around, and my eyes fell upon the ripening bananas in the fruit bowl. So I thought, why not make banana ice cream?

I looked over the internet for a good recipe, but somehow didn't feel like making any of them. Most of them called for frozen bananas, and I wanted the ice cream right then, and not to wait for the bananas to freeze. I then looked in my cookbooks, and I noticed that David Lebovitz had a recipe for roasted banana ice cream in his book, 'The Perfect Scoop'. But, same issue. I didn't want to roast the bananas, and I was also out of brown sugar. So I took the recipe as a base, and adapted it a lot, to make the ice cream. I was quite pleased with how the ice cream turned out. The colour wasn't that great, it turned into a pale pinkish colour, as the bananas froze, but the taste was worth it, it tasted just like deliciously ripe bananas. Plus, I didn't even have to cook it, so perfect for my 'I-want-it-now' mood.

I had already made my salted caramel sauce, in anticipation of the butter ice cream. I figured it would work just as fine for the banana ice cream. It worked out better than I thought. The sticky sweet and salty caramel sauce was the perfect foil for the superbly banana-ey ice cream. I can't imagine anything would top this, but I want to try the ice cream out with chocolate fudge sauce next time - yes, there's going to be a next time, I ain't letting some piddly winter season come between me and my ice cream now, am I?

Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

4 ripe, but firm bananas
2½ cups half and half (single cream)
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
¾ tsp vanilla extract ¼ tsp salt

Method:

Roughly chop the bananas into a blender. Add the sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt.

Pour in the half and half and puree till smooth.

Chill for an hour, then churn in an ice cream machine.

If you don't have an ice cream machine, place the pureed mixture in a freezer safe container. Freeze for an hour. Take out and beat well. Place back in the freezer for an additional hour. Take out and beat again. Do this two more times, then freeze overnight.

Serve with the salted caramel sauce poured over.