Categories: Desserts

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 strip lemon zest (1 to 2 inches long by about 1 1/2 inch wide)
• 2 large, firm, ripe bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise and then halved crosswise
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon zest; stir to dissolve the sugar, about 1 minute. (If the heat is too high, the butter and sugar will separate instead of combining to form a sauce.)

2. Add the bananas and spoon some sauce over each piece. Cook until the bananas are glossy and golden on the bottom, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn the bananas and continue cooking until very soft but not mushy or falling apart, about 1 1/2 minutes longer.

3. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the rum and wait until the rum has warmed slightly, about 5 seconds. Wave a lit match over the pan until the rum ignites, shaking the pan to distribute the flame over the entire pan. When the flames subside (this will take 15 to 30 seconds), divide the bananas and sauce among the four bowls of ice cream, discarding the cinnamon stick and lemon zest, and serve.

4. STEP-BY-STEP – SAFELY SETTING BANANAS ON FIRE: Before flambéing, make sure to roll up shirtsleeves, tie back long hair, turn off the exhaust fan (otherwise the fan may pull the flames up), and turn off any lit burners (this is critical if you have a gas stove). If you have long fireplace matches, use them to ignite the rum. 1. Remove the skillet from the heat and pour in the rum. 2. Off the heat, ignite the rum with long fireplace matches. 3. Return the skillet to the heat and gently shake the skillet to flambé the rum. Keep shaking until the flames subside.

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