Bananas, chocolate et al

Whereas everyone seems to be making apple pies and pear tarts, I am making frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles, desiccated coconut and ground pistachio.

I don’t care for the seriousness of autumn, I want to hold on to the playfulness of summer. It is still rather warm out so these were a brilliant idea to cool us off somehow in the most sweet and colorful of ways.

I considered making an ice cream, but, to be honest, I have had my share of ice creams this summer and I have somewhat retired my ice cream bowl. As we speak, it is not sitting in my freezer, but comfortably in its box.

I’m also kind of in a state of watching what type of sweets I make, meaning that I prefer them on the less-sugar side (even though as we speak, I’m dreaming of a cupcake recipe I want to make that’s full of sugar) so I decided to make something that I can call healthy-ish, or something like it.

These chocolate-covered bananas are so fun and easy to make, effortless really, and a joy to eat. Crispy, crackly chocolate, firm, cold, sweet banana; perfection!

For those of you who are not keen on autumn and share my need to keep summer close, make these and enjoy them under a glorious sun.

Frozen chocolate-dipped bananas with desiccated coconut, pistachios or sprinkles

I used extra-virgin coconut oil to thin out the melted chocolate in order to have a thin coating rather than a brick-like one and it gave the bananas a faint flavor of coconut that was beautiful. If you’d rather not have that flavor, use odorless and flavorless vegetable oil to mix with the chocolate.

Use bananas that are firm yet ripe. If they have a few brown spots like mine, that’s okay. You want them to be flavorful but not soft, otherwise they will break when you insert the stick.

Yield: 16 banana sticks

Ingredients
8 large, ripe yet firm bananas
200 g good quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
1½ Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil (or sunflower oil)
Desiccated coconut
Sprinkles
Coarsely ground unsalted pistachios

Special equipment: popsicle sticks, large tray suitable for the freezer, baking paper


Preparation
Peel the bananas and cut them in half crosswise. Insert a popsicle stick slowly and carefully half way into the banana, being careful not to puncture through the fruit.
Place the banana halves onto a baking paper-lined tray suitable for the freezer and place them in your freezer for 20 minutes. Don’t cover them because we don’t want any moisture to form on top of them.

Place the chopped chocolate and coconut oil (or sunflower oil) in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (bain marie) and melt, stirring often (or you can use the microwave). The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water. Stir gently with a rubber spatula and once the mixture is smooth and melted, remove bowl from the top of the pan and empty into a jug or a tall container to make dipping the bananas easy.
Let it cool until it is warm but not hot.

Note: this chocolate mixture will not be the same as this chocolate shell as it contains less coconut oil so it doesn’t get hard in a few seconds. Instead, it takes a few minutes to set which gives you ample time to cover in sprinkles, coconut etc.

Remove the bananas from the freezer and one by one, dip them into the chocolate. You can either dip the whole banana into the chocolate or dip half of it. I prefer them half-dipped. Let the excess chocolate drip off for a few seconds and then either roll them in sprinkles/coconut/pistachios or sprinkle on top. If you roll them, they will be more covered than if you simply sprinkle them.
Place the bananas on a new piece of baking paper (and onto a tray) and return them to the freezer, uncovered. They need about 2 hours to be frozen.
Serve them either straight from the freezer, or if they’ve been in the freezer for more than 2 hours, transfer them to the fridge for half an hour or to your kitchen counter for 15 minutes to soften a bit.

If you plan to keep the bananas in the freezer for more than a day, cover each one well in plastic wrap or put them in a freezer bag or in an airtight container. You can keep them like that for 1 week.

Greek fried zucchini with yoghurt sauce

There’s nothing more classic in Greek cuisine than battered and fried eggplant and zucchini slices. When you go out to a taverna in Greece, these nibbles are amongst the first you order.

When you have a meat- or fish-based Sunday lunch at home, you whip these up as a meze to accompany the grand attraction. They are the go-to side dish for every Greek who respects themselves.

When they are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, they are the best. Paired with tzatziki or a simple yoghurt sauce, they are divine.

In order to change things up because admittedly I am so bored of eating them with a plain batter, I added some sesame seeds and fresh mint to it. It made a big difference as they enhanced the flavor of the zucchini, adding freshness and extra crunchiness. The dip of Greek strained yoghurt was flavored with ground coriander that was faintly spicy and provided acidity to the fried zucchini.

S and I loved it. Especially S who couldn’t keep his hands off of it long enough for me take a photograph.

Greek fried zucchini with fresh mint and sesame seeds and a yoghurt dip with ground coriander

I used small, light-colored zucchini that taste far better than the large, deep-green ones and are less watery but any old zucchini will do.
I used a mandoline to slice them but a sharp knife will do the job as well.

Yield: enough for 4-6 people as appetizer

Ingredients

for the zucchini
3 courgettes (600-650 g), cut into 0.5-0.7 cm slices on the diagonal
80 g all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
160 ml cold sparkling water
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
Sunflower oil, for frying

for the yoghurt dip
7 Tbsp Greek 2% strained yoghurt
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ tsp ground coriander
1½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper (2-3 turns of the pepper mill)
¼ tsp salt

Special equipment: mandoline (optional)


Preparation
In a medium-sized, high-sided, heavy-bottomed pan, add the sunflower oil. Be careful not to use a pan that’s too small, because the oil will rise and bubble and triple in size when you add the zucchini. You don't want the oil spilling out of the pan.
Heat the oil over medium-high heat. You can check if the oil is ready for frying by dropping in it a 2.5 cm cube of white bread and if it browns in 60 seconds, it is ready. If it browns in less time then your oil is too hot!

In the meantime, prepare the batter. It’s crucial that you prepare the batter at this point and not earlier, because this way it will retain the bubbles from the sparkling water and the zucchini fries will be more airy and crispy.

In a large bowl, add the flour and salt and mix with a whisk. Add the sparkling water, pouring it little by little and whisking continuously until it comes together into a somewhat thin batter. Add the sesame seeds and chopped mint and stir.

Once the oil is hot enough (it should be very hot so the zucchini doesn’t become soggy but crispy), dip the zucchini slices in the batter briefly and fry. Do not overcrowd the pan because they will not be uniformly fried. Fry them for 2-3 minutes, until they take on a golden color and crisp up.

While the zucchini is frying, prepare the yoghurt dip. Add all the ingredients for the dip in a medium-sized bowl and mix well with a spoon.

Remove the zucchini slices from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels to drain excess oil. Then transfer them onto a platter and sprinkle with a little salt.

Serve immediately with the yoghurt dip.