I quite enjoy a fresh banana, although I’m a bit choosy about where I buy them – not all bananas are created equal!

From time to time, quite regularly actually, I find myself with a surplus of ripe bananas. Perhaps, distracted by another option in our fruit bowl, I didn’t get around to eating them. Or, my favourite greengrocer was offering bags of bananas at a discount price – I’m easily led astray by a food bargain!

Too many bananas? No drama. I could probably make a banana, walnut and date cake in my sleep, I’ve done it so many times; between 250 and 400 times, to be approximate.

However, I had been thinking I should come up with a Plan B. Then, hey presto! The Sweet-tooth Fairy put a recipe for fried bananas in my newspaper, complete with a fancy name – ‘Bananas Foster’. How could I resist?

The recipe worked well, although Maggie and I did modify it a little to suit our palates and the number of guests for dinner, as in zero.

Our variations: two bananas and half the recipe quantities for everything else; cut the bananas in half both ways to make it easier to accommodate them in the pan; mixed spice in place of cinnamon; a generous squeeze of lemon juice just before the bananas are turned for the first time; and add the walnuts once the rum has bubbled for a minute or so. Oh, and we never ‘flambe’ alcohol spirits – it frightens the bejeezus out of Maggie and, well, I am more risk averse than in the first half of my life. (Note: if you want to flambe something, turn off your exhaust fan first!)

The recipe produces a delicious and well-balanced dessert, and Maggie is now taking more interest in our supply of bananas than ever before!