TGRWT#2 - Bacon wrapped bananas with parsley filling

TGRWT or They Go Really Well Together is a blog event originally created by Martin of Khymos.org and is this time hosted by Tara on her blog Should you eat that. This month's stars banana and parsley are chosen because they have similar volatile aroma compounds - this was probably first discovered by Heston Blumenthal who scented banana while throwing a handful of parsley into rabbit stew.
I love the idea of letting chemistry use its magic in my dishes. And although this is kind of what it does all the time, I took the challenge with curiosity.
Knowing that curiosity killed the cat. Oh my.


I rembebered seeing a recipe for bacon wrapped bananas. How cool is that? Sometimes sweet is just the essence of savoury food. Now I fetched a proper handful of parsley from the garden too to hide it in the bananas.

Bacon wrapped bananas with parsley filling

3 bananas
1 dl chopped parsley
1 1/2 tbsp cream cheese
9 slices of bacon
salt, white pepper

1. Cut the bananas into three and then lenghtwise into two so you have every banana cut into 6.
2. Mix the chopped parsley with cream cheese and season the mixture with salt and white pepper.
3. Divide the mixture between the slices of banana, so it is possible to reunite the halves.
4. Wrap every parsley filled banana section into a slice of bacon and fix with a toothpick.
5. Grill the bananas until bacon is crisp (or almost crisp, as the moisture from the bananas won't let it turn completely crisp). This took me about 15 minutes in the oven.
6. Serve warm.



Now this was interesting! And that in a good way. Bananas are sweet and one can't fight that fact, but sweet is just okay here. Their texture, and of course the influence of bacon around, made me think of potatoes - really sweet...tasting-like-banana potatoes. With the inside a bit creamy.
So it's clear that bacon and banana completed each other's tastes, but what about parsley? Although there seemed to be a whole bunch of it at first, the taste didn't burst in the mouth screaming 'I'm parsley! In a banana!' This dish was rather about banana, with additional parsley too improve the taste, to freshen it. Just as pizza isn't about the marinara sauce, it's about the topping. But thumbs up for the combination from me, I'd say!


I served the bananas over potato puree (you can imagine the overall potato feeling). It was okay, but made me wish for a green salad instead. So as summer is still on its way here, we have time to get our grills ready - this is a dish for a summerly afternoon grill!

What didn't I make?
I didn't make banana bread with parsley.
I didn't bake chicken with bananas under a parsley crust.
I didn't make a fresh green salad with banana and yoghurt-parsley dressing.
I didn't prepare banana soup with parsley (although I did discover I had a recipe for American savoury banana soup)