Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream

I saw this chef's show on Netflix and knew I had to make it.  I've never made homemade ice cream before either though I have made tarte tatins a few times.  I found her recipe here.  I made the ice cream the night before and here's what I used:    

For the ice cream:

• 300 ml can condensed milk x 2 (I didn't scrape the cans as there was too much as it was for the recipe)
• 500 ml whipping cream
• 5 green cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed in mortar & pestle (I used 8 because I LOVE cardamom)

Ground Cardamom

Empty Cardamom Pods

For the tarte tatin:

• 397 grams block puff pastry
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 & 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cups walnuts, lightly crushed and toasted
• 3 large organic bananas, sliced into 3/4 inch coins (I'd make them an inch next time)

For the ice cream, put the condensed milk, cream and crushed cardamom seeds into a bowl. Whip until soft peaks form (took me about 10 minutes and I would use my stand mixer next time) when the whisk is removed from the bowl, then transfer to a freezer-safe tub and level the top. Freeze.  

For the tarte tatin, preheat the oven to 355°F and have a 9 inch ovenproof pan ready.  Roll out the pastry to a 1/2 inch thickness, then cut out a circle about 3/4 inches wider than your pan. Pop it on a baking tray and leave it in the fridge while you make the caramel.

Put the sugar and butter into the pan, and when the sugar dissolves, turn up the heat and allow the caramel to get dark and thicken. Occasionally lift the pan and give it all a little swirl. The main thing is to watch it until it is a deep caramel colour, because once it gets to that point it can burn quickly.

Remove from the heat and sprinkle on the walnuts. Add the bananas to the caramel, then lay the pastry on top and gently lift and tuck it around the sides of the pan, being careful of the hot caramel. Cut a slit in the top for the steam to escape, and bake for 25–30 minutes.

Allow the tart to cool for a few minutes, then place a plate over the pastry and carefully turn out the tart tatin (wear oven gloves to protect your hands from the hot caramel). Serve in slices with scoops of the ice cream.

First off the ice cream was amazing!  I would never believe it could be as easy as this, but it was.  I think using a whole vanilla bean, scraping out the innards would have been fantastic as an alternate.  The cardamom was super strong so I'd advise to stick to the 5 pods she said.  I didn't know the strength of them to be honest and it looked so little when ground up.  It's potent stuff...

With the ice cream  melting over the warm tart, it was delicious.  The pastry was crispy.  This was pleasantly sweet as a whole without being sickening.  The bananas were a little under-ripe and the caramel sauce didn't help them, unfortunately.  This was a super easy recipe and would impress guests without knowing how little you did to make it.  Just use ripe bananas!