Pan-Fried Bananas

You know that feeling you get when you want to eat something but no one is around to cook you food? This happens to me almost every day. Instead of feasting on my large stash of leftover Halloween candy, though, today I decided to try a new vintage recipe.

I looked in the kitchen to see what sounded good. I spotted some bananas and thought I could probably make something quick and easy from the Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book and I was right! Here is my interpretation of:

Pan-Fried Bananas

1) Peel four firm bananas. 

Or maybe just peel one banana because I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. Also because I'm only making this for myself and not a party of four. Though fried bananas probably wouldn't be my first choice of party food even if there were four of us here.

2) Keep whole or cut crosswise into halves. Fry bananas slowly in butter or margarine until tender...easily pierced with a fork...turning them to brown evenly. 

3) Sprinkle lightly with salt. Serve hot as a vegetable. Four servings.

Serve hot as a vegetable? What does that even mean? As opposed to a mushy lukewarm fruit? How is this banana going to transform into a vegetable just because I let it spend some time in a skillet with butter? I looked again to the photo for help and noticed this notation under the recipe:

IMPORTANT: Pan-Fried or Broiled Bananas, served as a hot vegetable, are excellent flavor partners with fish, meat, poultry or eggs for luncheon or dinner. Pan-Friend Bananas with hamburger patties and whole carrots make an appetizing, colorful and nutritious plate combination.

So it's about what you serve it with. Okay. I looked again in the fridge and found some sausage patties and baby carrots. Close enough--let's do this!

At the bottom of the page there was another recipe for "Bananas Pan-Fried with Ham and Eggs" where I read this note/variation:

Sausage or bacon may be used in place of ham but should be fried separately. Sausage or bacon and cooked bananas make an excellent flavor combination. 

And you know what? They're right! All in all, this weird little plate of food tasted pretty good! There's something about the salty sausage and the sweet banana that's really good together. I'm not sure where the carrots come in, but I guess it added a little veggie legitimacy to this dish.

I might make this again sometime--after all, who isn't looking for good vegetable recipes?