Banana Vinaigrette

What to do with over-ripe bananas?  Well, their heady sweet aroma permeated the kitchen and seemed to call for balance.  I smashed the bananas with banyuls vinegar and some salt and then let them sit in my cooler overnight.  This morning I came in to the smell of bacon with the marinated bananas on my mind.  I pureed the banana mixture and emulsified it with the hot bacon fat, the bacon itself had another use.  The result was a creamy, sweet, salty, sour and smoky vinaigrette.  We still had some bay scallops and this vinaigrette seemed a unique counterpoint to their sweet salinity.  Because we were exploring flavors today, I ventured further into our larder and put together a dried mango and rose tea puree as well as a roulade of dried blueberries, cocoa nibs and nori.  The assemblage of these ingredients brought together an interesting dish of dried fruits, nuts, land and sea.  It began with the banana and ended with the dish.