Recipe: Caramelised banana with candied walnuts & lemon sorbet

Around this time last year, I travelled to Dorset for the weekend, and spent the night at a beautiful B&B called La Fosse in Cranbourne.

It’s a real gem of a place, with just six cosy bedrooms (each one  is named after a local cheese) and an award winning restaurant headed up by Chef Mark Hartstone.

You can read my previous post about La Fosse, in full here, but today, Chef and Proprietor Mark shares one of his favourite  dessert recipes for caramelised bananas with candied walnuts and lemon sorbet – and it’s suitable for vegans too!

Lemoncello Sorbet: 

• 240ml water
• 160g sugar
• Zest of 3 lemons
• Juice of 6 lemons
• Dash of lemoncello (to be poured on the sorbet as you serve)

 Method:

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved and a syrup has formed, about 5 minutes. Let the syrup cool to room temperature. Now stir in your lemon zest and juice.
2. To create a soft texture that is not crystalline at all, ½ the sugar may be replaced by an inverted sugar.  This is a sugar syrup that has been boiled at 114 degrees with an agent such as cream of tartar or citric acid.
3. Cool the mix and place in an ice cream maker or, if you do not have one,  in a bowl that you whisk every 30 minutes whilst it freezes.

Caramelised Banana:

• Bananas
• Caster sugar (2 soup spoons per banana)
• Lime zest

1. Peel bananas and cut length wise or in slices (thickness as you wish).
2. In a frying pan, put all the sugar and let it slowly melt on low/medium heat.
3. Once melted, add the banana 1 piece at a time, so that every piece is coated with the caramel
4. Take off the stove, remove the pieces of banana onto a piece of silicon paper and sprinkle with lime zest.
5. The most important thing is to not overcook the banana or you will end up with a mushy consistency.

Candied Walnuts:

• 5 walnut halves per person
• 100ml almond milk
• Caramel from bananas

1. Heat the caramel on the stove again then add the almond milk which will create a toffee type sauce. Add the nuts and they will coat and fill the undulating grooves of the walnuts.
2. When the nuts are well coated remove and put on the silicon paper.

Toffee Sauce:

• Caramel from bananas
• 50ml almond milk

1. Deglaze the pan again with a dash of almond milk to create the sauce.
2. A pinch of cinnamon will add a touch of warm and spice, a little grated vegan chocolate will also give the sauce some depth.

Mark says, “The great thing about this recipe is that it is almost entirely from store cupboard ingredients. Other than the sorbet, the dish can be put together whilst your dinner guests are digesting their main course. The walnuts can be prepared in advance along with the sorbet, however the caramel on the banana will dissolve into the fruit and therefore must be done at the very last minute.” 

 You can ready my previous post about staying at La Fosse B&B here, along with this review of the restaurant, in Olive Magazine.