Banana Bread Pudding with Rummm Rummm Sauce - Regional Recipes August

A few of years ago we took a Caribbean Cruise and our first port of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We had about eight hours in port and decided to poke around.  Hmm, what to do?

Perhaps, the Historic District of Old San Juan.  I love old buildings.  This sounded perfect.  We didn't do this. 

How about Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve with its mangroves, boardwalk trails, and manatees.  Sounds wonderful, right?  We didn't do this either. 

It would have been just like us to find some authentic, local restaurant with a delicious sounding name such as Ramiro's or Ajili Mójili so that we could experience some of the local flavours. I believe this is one of the best ways to get a feel for a place and its people.  That makes sense, right?.  Yes, it does. But we didn't do this either. 

So where did we go, you ask?  Well, after we were herded off the ship in cattle-like fashion, we headed straight to the Bacardi Rum Factory.  Yes, rummm, rummm.  (This is said in a way that sounds like you are making car engine noises)  Rummm, rummm, rummm.  Yes, that's it.

GWH loves rummm, rummm, especially dark rum and we were not visiting the Caribbean without paying homage to the Rum Gods.

 

The Temple of Rum 

The Wall of Rum

The God of Rum

So we went, we learned and we sampled.  And we bought rum. 

There is actually a point to me telling you about our trip to Puerto Rico three years ago.  Regional Recipes has chosen Puerto Rico as its culinary destination this month.  As I thought about Puerto Rico and recalled our trip to the Bacardi Rum Factory, it was obvious to me that I had to make a dish that involved rummm, rummm.  Here it is:

Banana Bread Pudding with Rummm Rummm Sauce

Ingredients

Pudding
6 slices whole wheat bread, cubed
4 Eggs
4 bananas, sliced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups warm water
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tablespoons vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans


Rum Sauce
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp dark or amber rum

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.  Place bread cubes into 6 small, greased souffle dishes.  Layer with sliced bananas.  Beat together eggs and cinnamon.  Then add remaining ingredients except pecans and sauce.  Pour mixture evenly over bread, soaking completely.  Sprinkle with pecans.  Bake for 50 minutes and serve warm with rum sauce. 

To make rum sauce, melt the butter, add the brown sugar and cream.  Boil rapidly for about 10 minutes while stirring.  Add rum and serve over pudding.

Note:   I served the warm pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with the rum sauce.
Yummm, Yummm!

This recipe was adapted from here:
http://www.grouprecipes.com/76490/banana-bread-pudding-with-rum-sauce.html