Frozen banana

Summer is almost here and so are light colors and frozen desserts! How about a frozen Hawaiian banana adapted from a recipe by Clementine Paddleford (1898-1967) - the first journalist in American history who truly defined the American food. A jewel who brought freshness of food to the newspapers which were primarily sources of politics at that time.



I heard about her on a radio show while driving through North Carolina as someone who often piloted a piper club to travel around America to gather recipes from locals. The show was an interview of Kelly Alexander (who lives in NC) on her critically acclaimed biography Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate.

"At a time when few people in Philadelphia knew what enchiladas were and few in Chicago knew what cioppino was, Ms. Paddleford described them both in loving detail, along with New Orleans-style red beans and rice, Lindy's cheesecake and Hungarian-American stuffed cabbage from Cleveland," wrote the late R.W. Apple Jr., New York Times correspondent and food writer.

The recipe of this creamy dessert originally contained cream, banana, and sugar. My love for nuts forced me to add almonds without disturbing the visual purity :)

Serves 4
1 cup heavy cream
2 large or 4 baby bananes (ripe)
8 tsp sugar (more if you prefer)
6 tsp blanched and grounded almonds or 6 tsp crushed pine nuts

- Peel bananas and wrap wax papers around each one of them. Twist both ends of the wax paper for a tight seal and put inside the freezer for 3-4 hrs or overnight.
- Blanch 1/4 cup almonds and grind them in a food processor
- Freeze wide mouthed tall glasses or individual serving size small glass dishes for 5 mins
- Take out glasses from freeze and put 4 tsp cream in each glass
- Sprinkle 3/4 tsp of grounded almonds on top of the cream in each glass
- Take out bananas from freeze. Slice 1/2 of the small banana or 1/4 of a large banana into 1/8 thick slices and evenly spread them into the glass
- Sprinkle 1 tsp of white sugar on top of the sliced bananas
- Repeat another layer of cream (4 tsp), grounded almonds (3/4 tsp), banana (1/4 large or 1/2 small) and sugar (1tsp) in the glass
- Top with 4 tsp of cream again
- Decorate with a single 1/8 inch slice of banana in the center (checkout how the banana slice is smiling at you:) and serve immediately
- Feel free to increase or decrease quantities of any of the ingredient according to you taste.