A Dessert Driven Dinner

So going down the path of Ernestine Ulmer who said “Life is uncertain. Eat Dessert first.”, we found dessert first and added the meal.

This all started with a recipe Sue found by following a link on a Whole Foods email. It has chocolate, it has bananas, it has spice and it has nuts! Who could blame us for building a meal around this dessert? So build we did. It is really quite easy when you get at least weekly emails from multiple recipe sites (only Sue).  It wasn’t long before we had this whole menu figured out.

Inspiration for this meal.

Frozen Bananas Dipped in Mexican Chocolate Ganache and Spicy Honeyed Peanuts

Author Notes: This rich and satisfying handheld treat marries the creamy sweetness of a frozen banana with the deep and spicy undertones of a dark chocolate ganache infused with cinnamon.

Peanuts roasted briefly in a coating of honey, cinnamon, and ground New Mexico chile, then dusted with flaky sea salt, add the perfect crunchy counterpoint, with a kick that keeps you coming back for another bite. It's one of my childhood treats -- my parents owned an ice cream parlor, and there was always a tray of frozen bananas dipped in crackle chocolate and rolled in nuts available. Now, I've recreated it for an adult palate. - indieculinary

Food52 Review: Apart from the time in the freezer, this dessert does not take much time to prepare. The spice of the chile and cinnamon in the nuts and chocolate make the humble banana a decadent treat. I enjoyed the creaminess of the banana against the dark, spicy chocolate and crunch of the peanutty brittle. - Kimberly Nichols

Serves 6

Spicy Honeyed Peanuts
1 1/2cup roasted, salted peanuts
1/3cup honey
1teaspoon ground New Mexico chile (or another spicy ground chile, like cayenne)
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
1teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon

Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F.

Dice the peanuts into small pieces; each peanut should be roughly quartered.

Stir the honey, ground chile, and ground cinnamon together, and microwave briefly (20 seconds is sufficient) or heat briefly on stovetop. You just need to warm the honey enough that it flows freely.
Toss the warm honey and spice mixture with the peanuts until coated.

Spread the peanuts on a silpat over a cookie sheet, and roast for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't burn.

Cool. Once cooled, break apart with your hands into small bits, for coating the bananas.
Sprinkle flaky sea salt over the roasted peanut bits.

Frozen Bananas

6 medium, ripe bananas
8ounces good quality dark chocolate
4ounces heavy cream
1teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2cup Spicy Honeyed Peanuts

Peel bananas and slice each in half at the midpoint on a slight diagonal.

Insert a popsicle stick carefully into the center of each banana half, pushing in as far as you can go without the stick coming out the other side.

Place the bananas on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet and place in the freezer to chill and firm while you make the ganache.

Chop your chocolate into chunks no bigger than 1/2 inch each, and place in a bowl with room for whisking.

Combine the heavy cream and cinnamon in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Once bubbling, pour over the chocolate pieces. Let sit for one minute.

After a minute has passed, whisk vigorously. A smooth ganache will come together before your eyes.
If chocolate chunks remain despite your best whisking efforts, set your bowl of ganache aside for a moment. Add some water to the pot you've just emptied of cream and bring it to a boil. Set your bowl of ganache above it, completely sealing the pot with the bowl, to create a double boiler. Give it a minute for the steam from the boiling water to heat the bowl, and then whisk again, until your ganache is smooth.

Once your ganache is smooth, dip a banana in it to coat. (Note: I've had you make a little more ganache than you'll need, for ease of banana immersion in the dipping phase. I trust you will find a yummy way to use any leftover ganache.)

Set the dipped banana onto some peanuts and press additional peanuts onto the top side. Set the banana back on the wax paper-covered cookie sheet and press peanuts by hand onto any side left uncovered.

Repeat ganache-dipping and peanut-coating process with each banana.

Return tray of bananas to the freezer. Freeze at least two hours before serving.

We know we have waxed poetic about our previous favorite margarita (the one with the fresh orange juice) but this time around we chose a more traditional version. These are very potent. They will have you dancing, but don’t dance and drive.

Our new favorite margarita

Margarita

By Erika Kotite • January 23, 2013 • 9 Comments
Source: Food 52
Serves 2

4ounces tequila
2ounces Cointreau
2ounces fresh-squeezed lime juice (plus spent lime rind)
1/2ounce agave syrup
Ice
Coarse sea salt
Additional lime wedges (for garnish)

Mix tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and agave syrup in a shaker or large measuring cup filled partway with ice and stir or shake until thoroughly chilled.

Spread salt on a plate. Rub rims of two rocks glasses with the spent lime. Turn glasses upside down in the salt. Fill glasses with ice and pour in the margarita liquid. Add lime wedge to each.

Grilling fresh corn is what makes this salad perfect for summer.

 

Grilled Shrimp, Corn, and Tomato Salad
From Good Housekeeping

Ingredients
2 limes, can use 1 more lime if needed
4 tablespoon(s) olive oil
3/4 teaspoon(s) salt
Ground red pepper, (cayenne)
1 teaspoon(s) 1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
1 pound(s) (large) shrimp, shelled and deveined, with tail part of shell left on if you like
3 ear(s) corn, husks and silks removed
4 medium tomatoes, each cut in half and seeded
2 medium (about 4 ounces each) poblano chiles
1 head(s) green or red leaf lettuce, thinly sliced

Directions
Prepare outdoor grill for covered direct grilling over medium heat.
Meanwhile, from limes, grate 1 teaspoon peel and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice. In cup, with fork, mix lime juice with 2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, and pinch ground red pepper. Set dressing aside.

In medium bowl, with fork, mix coriander and cumin with remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch ground red pepper. Brush corn and tomatoes with half of oil mixture. Toss shrimp in oil mixture remaining in bowl.

Place corn and whole poblanos on hot grill rack. Cover grill and cook corn and poblanos 10 to 12 minutes or until corn is browned in spots and skin on poblanos is charred and blistered on all sides, turning over occasionally. Transfer corn to cutting board. Transfer poblanos to large sheet of foil. Wrap foil around poblanos and allow to steam at room temperature 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

While poblanos steam, place shrimp and tomatoes on hot grill rack (or hot flat grill topper). Cover grill and cook shrimp 4 to 5 minutes or just until opaque throughout, turning shrimp over once. Cook tomatoes 4 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned, turning over once. Transfer shrimp to large bowl and tomatoes to cutting board.

Remove poblanos from foil. Peel off skins and discard. Cut each poblano lengthwise in half; remove seeds and membranes. Cut poblanos crosswise into thin strips; add to shrimp in bowl. Cut corn kernels from cobs; add to same bowl. Peel off and discard skin from tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into thin strips; add to same bowl. Add 2 tablespoons dressing to shrimp mixture; toss to coat.

In another large bowl, toss lettuce with remaining dressing.

To serve, place lettuce on platter; top with shrimp mixture.

Our unsolicited and biased opinion:

As usual, we went for the 16-20 count shrimp for the salad. We think the presentation is better and the shrimp are more succulent.

The recipe is written for an outdoor grill. We used an indoor Panini grill for everything but charring the poblano chilies, which we did over an open gas flame. All of this could easily be done under an oven broiler.

Grilling the tomatoes didn’t noticeably enhance the flavor, and next time around we will use fresh halved grape tomatoes. Because we love citrus, we doubled the lime zest, which was perfect for us. This is not a spicy dish, so don’t be hesitant about the cayenne. We followed the recipe and used red leaf lettuce but next time we will use romaine for its crispness.

Despite following the Spicy Honeyed Peanut recipe to the letter, we found it too sticky to easily break apart. (Notice the chunks of peanuts on the bananas.) Next time around we are going to use brown sugar instead of the honey. We still managed to glump it onto the bananas and eat them. The peanut combination would stand on its own as a topping for a sundae or eating with reckless abandon as you are making it . . .  not that we would know.

This dessert lived up to our expectations. We used a Pasilla chile which added a smokiness and slight heat to the peanut coating.

We had about a quarter cup of ganache left and combined it with some of the remaining salted roasted peanuts. Just enough for a late night snack.