No-Churn Banana Sorbet Recipe — 3-Ingredient Frozen Dessert

I’ve written about Braden Perkins before as the co-creator of the Paris supper club Hidden Kitchen. He and his partner Laura Adrian closed HK a year and a half ago and went on to open an official restaurant called Verjus.

Braden and I have been friends for six years, which has given me the pleasure of tasting his food and cooking alongside him on multiple occasions. I’m always struck by the bright flavors and playful ideas in his dishes. They are often complex—several preparations come together on a single plate in classic chef fashion—but they leave me with plenty of inspiring takeaway ideas to jot down.

It makes a lot of noise and at first it turns to a gritty sludge, but if you persist, it becomes this smooth, richly creamy banana sorbet that can be served right away.

A few weeks ago, Maxence and I were invited with eight friends to inaugurate Verjus’ new chef’s table, tucked on the restaurant’s top floor. The cozy room is lined with the couple’s cookbook collection and offers a bay-window view of the striking exterior staircases of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal across the street.

Braden served a tasting menu of new dishes he’d recently developed. My favorite was a slow-cooked egg over soft polenta with frisée and salsify, finished with pumpernickel crumbs and a touch of homemade kimchi.

For dessert, pastry chef Cassie Choi, a Korean-American from Los Angeles, presented three playful reinterpretations of American classics: pecan pie, lemon meringue tart, and a reimagined banana split. The banana split took the form of a frozen chocolate mousse with chocolate sauce, marinated cherries, and a banana sorbet.

The banana sorbet stole the show. After the meal, Braden and Cassie told us how it was made, following a simple tip Cassie had read: freeze very ripe bananas, then pulse them in a food processor. At first the frozen fruit breaks down into a noisy, gritty sludge, but if you keep processing it comes together into a smooth, creamy sorbet that can be served straight away.

I noted the method and tried it as soon as an overripe banana appeared in my fruit bowl. Braden had warned that the banana should be black-skinned for best flavor, so I let it ripen fully. My food processor isn’t heavy-duty, but the technique still worked: one very ripe banana made two small scoops of sorbet we enjoyed after dinner, topped with dark chocolate shavings.

Verjus, 52 rue de Richelieu (restaurant) or 47 rue de Montpensier (wine bar), 75002 Paris, +33 (0)1 42 97 54 40.

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