They Go Really Well Together: Banana & Parsley
Molecular gastronomy is cool, even when it's insane. One such example of its insanity is evident in the hypothesis that if two foods have an aromatic compound in common, they should taste good together. Like coffee and chocolate, strawberries and mint, or blue cheese and pineapple. (I know, blue cheese and pineapple. Crazy, huh?) This hypothesis is the basis for Khymos' They Go Really Well Together cooking/baking carnival.
Should You Eat That is hosting the latest TGRWT carnival, this time focusing on banana and parsley. Bonsai and I rose to the challenge.
If eaten in enough quantity, parsley begins to taste like mint. Until then, though, it just tastes like...green. When combined with banana, the resulting flavor is that of unripe, green banana.
So our first thought was to veer away from banana muffins with parsley or banana splits and towards dishes that used unsweetened, fresh bananas. Well, so the FIRST thought was to make banana splits and then pour parsley-infused vodka over it. I didn't feel like buying vodka, so instead infused brandy with parsley and entertained thoughts of Bananas Foster with brandy (no, not rum), ignoring everything I said about fresh, unsweetened bananas.
Bonsai wanted to just drink the parsley vodka and eat bananas but I vetoed that plan. Bananas are somewhat similar to plantains, so we modified a plantain fritter recipe that just turned out way too sweet and way too gooey, no matter how we cut it with lemon juice or fried it. Finally, we turned to cream puffs and devised a simple, fresh-tasting banana filling with parsley.
The banana filling
The cream puffs
Okay, we made cream puffs from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and mashed up some ripe (fresh and frozen) bananas with parsley. Maybe it's cheating, when everyone else has intricate, thoughtful recipes, but whatever. Sometimes simple is the most successful, and our brains were melting from a heat wave.
The first bite
The verdict: tasty!
It was good, but it was better when we ripped face-shaped holes in the cream puffs and made them "bleed" raspberry jam.
We made the brandy, but the star of the side projects were the cream puff heads.
Morbid cream puff anthropomorphism is fun!
Should You Eat That is hosting the latest TGRWT carnival, this time focusing on banana and parsley. Bonsai and I rose to the challenge.
If eaten in enough quantity, parsley begins to taste like mint. Until then, though, it just tastes like...green. When combined with banana, the resulting flavor is that of unripe, green banana.
So our first thought was to veer away from banana muffins with parsley or banana splits and towards dishes that used unsweetened, fresh bananas. Well, so the FIRST thought was to make banana splits and then pour parsley-infused vodka over it. I didn't feel like buying vodka, so instead infused brandy with parsley and entertained thoughts of Bananas Foster with brandy (no, not rum), ignoring everything I said about fresh, unsweetened bananas.
Bonsai wanted to just drink the parsley vodka and eat bananas but I vetoed that plan. Bananas are somewhat similar to plantains, so we modified a plantain fritter recipe that just turned out way too sweet and way too gooey, no matter how we cut it with lemon juice or fried it. Finally, we turned to cream puffs and devised a simple, fresh-tasting banana filling with parsley.
The banana filling
The cream puffs
Okay, we made cream puffs from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and mashed up some ripe (fresh and frozen) bananas with parsley. Maybe it's cheating, when everyone else has intricate, thoughtful recipes, but whatever. Sometimes simple is the most successful, and our brains were melting from a heat wave.
The first bite
The verdict: tasty!
It was good, but it was better when we ripped face-shaped holes in the cream puffs and made them "bleed" raspberry jam.
We made the brandy, but the star of the side projects were the cream puff heads.
Morbid cream puff anthropomorphism is fun!