Roasted Banana Ice Cream

We use at least 3 grocery stores. It started a long time ago and somehow we've just kept it up.

So it's:

• Harmon's for produce and deli stuff, plus Dannon yogurt (they have part-fat vanilla, which apparently no one else in the world carries anymore)
• Smith's for applesauce (Mott's!) and Breyer's Ice Cream
• Whole Foods for chicken and organic dairy (not just milk, because organic milk is everywhere, but other organic dairy products, too).
  

I'm not complaining. (ha!) I'm explaining the reason why I so appreciate David Lebovitz's recipe for roasted banana ice cream. When I said to Iain, "Whew! It's hot. Maybe Mommy should break out the ice cream maker." and he said, "ICE CREAM!!!" I was feeling ambitious. I hadn't done my homework, and we had some - but not all - of the necessary ingredients.

I got out Lebovitz's excellent book, The Perfect Scoop, to see what to make, and there was roasted banana ice cream. Of all the recipes that appealed, it was the one for which I had all the ingredients.

Sorbet? Need vodka or kirsch. Vietnamese coffee ice cream? Need sweetened condensed milk. Lemon buttermilk ice cream? Need buttermilk and about 4 more lemons. But this one? Bingo.

So:

Ingredients:

• 3 medium bananas
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of coarse salt

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400F
• Slice the bananas into 1/2 inch thick rounds. Toss with the brown sugar and butter pieces and put it into a baking dish. I used my 9x7 Pyrex brownie pan. Bake for 40 minutes or so, stirring once. Despite the fantastic aroma, do not try to rub this all over yourself. It's hot, and will burn you.
• Scrape all the yummy bits into your blender (or, if you must, food processor). All of it. Do not try to lick that bowl - it's hot. Add the milk, blend (carefully!). Add everything else, blend.
  
• Chill in the fridge until it's good and cold, then freeze in your ice cream maker. Then transfer to the freezer to harden.

Note that this is a Philadelphia-style ice cream: no eggs!! That's how we roll over here. Tomorrow, after I acquire some likkers from the state store, I'll be making cherry and blueberry sorbet. because, you know - Independence Day is coming and a girl needs red, white and blue dessert.