Community at the Cookoff!

Community General Hospital's team took first place in the United Way's Kickoff Cookoff! last week at the CNY Regional Market. The winning entry was a chocolate-banana-graham cracker icebox cake (recipe, below).

Community took first-place Cookoff! honors in 2004 with the "famed Friday" macaroni & cheese. Since then, our team has settled for second place finishes with chili (2005), chicken wings (2006), and Jello prism dessert (2009).

That's Community's team in the photo with their bucket hats, tie-died shirts, and the Big Banana (really, John Carnowski). Others in the photo are, from left: Hector Ramos, Pauline Warboy, Mark Siegel, Judy Piedmonte, Jeanne Waldron, Tracey Fenner, and Kristin Schofield.

Here is how to make the chocolate-banana-graham-cracker icebox cake:

Ingredients
Makes one 5-by-10-inch cake
Serves 8 to 10.
• 15 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
• 5 large egg yolks
• Salt
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 20 graham cracker sheets
• 4 or 5 ripe bananas, very thinly sliced lengthwise
• Garnish: whipped cream

Directions
1. Line a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place yolks and a pinch of salt in another heatproof bowl.

2. Bring cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Slowly pour cream into bowl with yolks, whisking constantly; return mixture to saucepan set over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 8 minutes (mixture should not come to a boil). Immediately strain through a fine sieve set over chocolate; stir until chocolate melts and is smooth. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 4 hours.

3. Spread 1 cup chocolate mixture evenly into bottom of loaf pan. Top with a layer of 4 graham crackers, trimmed to fit. Spread 1/2 cup chocolate over tops, and cover with some bananas. Spread 1/2 cup chocolate over bananas, and top with a layer of 4 trimmed graham crackers. Repeat with remaining chocolate, bananas, and graham crackers until you reach the top of the pan; finish with graham crackers.

4. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Uncover, and turn out onto a serving platter. Remove plastic wrap. Garnish with whipped cream, and cut into slices.