Chocolate Meringue Pie and Banana Pudding

Everyone is having babies!  And boy ones at that.  I've been wrapping gorgeous little knitted things and stuffed things all week.  I found some sheets of the most gorgeous 'little boy' wrapping paper - it is a warm ecru background, with a dark brown, 'pencil' type sketch of a little boy holding a ball.  I don't know why, but I fell in love with the design on the paper, and bought lots.  It looks pretty with chocolate and baby blue ribbon:

As the weather warms up, I sadly have to abandon a lot of my favourite cooking - thick stews, rich and creamy dishes and slow-roasted meats that heat the kitchen up too much.  Teriyaki salmon is always one of my favourite warm-weather meals.  You can make a large quantity of the teriyaki sauce, and keep it bottled in the fridge for a few weeks, easily.

To make the sauce, just combine 2 tablespoons sugar, 6 tablespoons mirin and 6 tablespoons of soy sauce in a saucepan.  Dissolve sugar, bring to boil, then add 1 teaspoon or so of cornflour (disolved to a paste with a smidge of the liquid), and boil, stirring, until thickened a little.  That's all.

Then you can pan-fry some pieces of chicken thigh or breast (1 inch pieces) and add the sauce, bubbling up around it for a minute, and serve with rice and greens.  Or, as I more often do, cook some lovely salmon fillets until barely cooked through, and serve them with rice, sauce and greens.  A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds is always a good idea.  Teriyaki anything is always a winner with Tabitha, and most kids I know.

I baked a really rich chocolate meringue pie last week.  I can't tell you how good it was.  We had people over for dinner (paprika chicken with spaetzle - it was a chilly day), and between four of us, we mostly finished off the pie.  I had the rest on my own, in bed, the following evening!

To make this simple yet delicious chocolate pie, first blind-bake a shortcrust pastry shell:

By the way, if you normally throw out your shortcust pastry scraps, try making 'cinnamon scrap buddies' instead.  Roll out the scraps into a long rectangle, brush with a little melted butter, sprinkle over a nice layer of sugar and cinnamon, roll into a long sausage, chill in the freezer for a few minutes to harden up, then slice into 1cm 'snails'.  Bake at 180 degrees for around 10 minutes or so, or until lightly browned.

 

You then need to make a layer of chocolate pudding, and a topping of meringue.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the filling - I was cooking several things at once while I made it, and it disappeared very quickly once I served it - but here is how you make it:

In a medium-large saucepan, combine 1.5 cups sugar, 8 tablespoons excellent cocoa, 10 tablespoons cornflour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3 cups whole milk and 4 egg yolks.  Whisk well to combine.  Over medium heat, whisking the whole time, slowly bring to a boil (around 7 minutes or so).  Once it's gently boiling, whisk quickly and boil steadily for about 1.5 - 2 minutes, until nicely thick.  Remove from heat, add 2 tablespoons butter and a tablespoon of vanilla.

If you think it's a little lumpy, press it through a mesh sieve.  Then, pour it into your pie shell and put in the fridge to set.

Once it's set (can leave it for several hours or overnight), take your 4 egg whites (bring to room temperature if you can) and beat them until soft peaks form.  Add 8 tablespoons of sugar (one at a time) and a good pinch of salt, and beat until stiff peaks form.  Spread over the chocolate pudding, being sure that the meringue touches the pastry at all edges to form a light seal.  Form peaks if you'd like.  Either blow-torch it a little, or set it a 180 degree oven for a few minutes until lightly browned.

Store in the fridge, and serve from the fridge - otherwise the chocolate pudding can get a bit melty in the hot weather!

Bananas are so cheap again!  $1.60 per kilo at the market yesterday, and they were beautiful ones too.  I've been buying kilos and kilos of bananas, and inevitably making lots of banana cake, banana yoghurt icy poles etc.

To make banana cake, I use the Stephanie Alexander recipe from her Cook's Companion book (if you don't have it, put it on your Christmas list).  Normally, I sprinkle a delicious nut-and-spice topping on the cake (also in the book) but on the weekend I added a good handful of chocolate chips instead.  Twas good.

While I had the oven on, I baked a dozen or so oversized date scones.  They freeze beautifully, and are a perfect snack for Tabitha, or morning tea for myself, heated in the oven and eaten with lots of butter and golden syrup.

Yesterday, banana pudding was on the menu.  It's in a pie dish, below, but it's not a pie, it's Southern-style banana pudding.  If you switch the elements around a little, you can make a banana cream pie, which is also excellent!  I'll tell you how to do both.  Next time I make it (in the next couple of weeks, I'm sure) I'll post step-by-step photos.

First, let me explain the difference between a classic banana pudding, my banana pudding, and a banana cream pie.

A very traditional banana pudding features homemade vanilla pudding (like a very thick custard or creme patisserie, a popular dessert in America), layered with slices of fresh banana and Nilla Wafers (a biscuit made by Nabisco, which are sadly not widely available in Australia, but which you can buy from USA foods HERE).

Basically this includes homemade vanilla pudding (a very thickened custard with egg yolks etc, see recipe below), whipped cream, sliced banana and Nilla Wafers (which are, sadly, not a biscuit we have here. Gotta pay $8 a box at USA Foods!  Or you can try using ladyfingers / Savoiardi).  A couple of layers of each (pudding, banana, wafers, pudding, banana, wafers, pudding, banana, wafers, pudding).  Then the whole lot is refrigerated for at least 12 hours (24-36 or so is better) and topped with whipped cream.

Now, that version is excellent.  It's the classic version that Elvis loved so dearly.  But when we were in New York, I tried the renowned Magnolia Bakery banana pudding.  It was incredibly light and ethereal and creamy, not at all stodgy.  I later learned this is because they fold whipped cream into the vanilla pudding!  

I didn't want to use the Magnolia recipe (they use instant pudding, and I prefer to make my own) so I tweaked a couple of recipes and came up with mine.  It's very simple and I really recommend making it - perfect over summer, a creamy, dreamy, banana custard type of dessert, perfect for BBQs.

My recipe is below...

Finally, I just wanted to add that, using the same elements as a banana pudding, you can very easily make a beautiful banana cream pie!  First, bake a shortcrust pastry shell (blind bake) or even use a crumb crust, e.g. crushed biscuits (Marie or Gingersnaps or even chocolate ripple would be divine) mixed with melted butter, pressed into the pie dish and baked until lightly browned.  Then, make your vanilla pudding (recipe below).  Layer sliced bananas into the pie shell, pour over half the pudding, layer more bananas, pour over the rest of the pudding, and leave to set in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  Before serving, top with a good amount of whipped cream OR meringue topping (using the egg whites left over from your pudding).  Serve chilled.  NOTE:  Folding the whipped cream through the pudding isn't a good idea for the pie, because you need the firm-set structure of the pudding for slicing).

Okay, so here is how you make the homemade vanilla pudding:

In a medium, heavy saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornflour and a large pinch of salt.  Whisk in 2 1/4 cups whole milk and 4 large egg yolks.  Over medium heat, cook, whisking non-stop, until the pudding starts to thicken and comes to a low boil, around 5-7 minutes.  Continue to whisk while it boils, until quite thick (around 90 seconds).  Remove from the heat and whisk in 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 40g unsalted butter, a small piece at a time.  Pour into a jug or bowl and set in the fridge.  NOTE: if you are not making my version, but rather the very traditional one, you need to layer the pudding with the bananas and Nillas while it is still warm, before it has set.

If you are making my banana pudding, you will need 600ml of thickened cream, whipped with a few teaspoons of caster sugar.  Once the pudding is cold and set, add it to the whipped cream and whip them together (a minute or less in a standing mixer with the whisk). 

You can sprinkle crumbled Nilla wafers over the top of the pudding just before serving.  You will use nearly a whole box for the pudding, so save a few if you wish.  Actually, do you know what else would be awesome sprinkled on top of the pudding, instead?  Crumbled up meringues!  Either shop-bought or homemade.  Nice bit of crunch.

No pictures can convey how awesomely delicious this is.

Our lovely dinner guest last night got to take home a large serving:

Do you have any questions?  I'm sure I have made the pudding, classic pudding and pie sound more complicated than they are!  It's so easy, and any of the recipes would be perfect for casual summer entertaining.

Rhubarb Pie

I love making brownies.  They are very simple to make, and taste outrageously good.  They also keep well.  Brownies have a lot going for them.  You can find recipes I use HERE and HERE (the second ones are better, but quite expensive to make so you wouldn't want to make them every day. The first ones are cakier, but yummy too).

Anyway, for some reason I found a box of packet mix brownies up the back of the corner cupboard (a.k.a. the Cupboard of Death).  How did they get there?  Who knows!  In the intesests of cleaning out the cupboard, and not wasting food, I decided I might as well cook these package mix brownies.  "How bad could they be," I wondered?

Pretty bad.  Look, they were reasonably moist, they came with choc-chips in them (I added some chopped walnuts) and they were, you know, chocolatey, which is always a good thing.  But they lacked any fudgey texture, and they just had a sort of fake, strange, additive flavour to them.  The Daddy and my sister ate several each, so they weren't shocking, but I would never make them again.

Still, they look pretty, don't they?  Deceptive!

After wasting three minutes of my life preparing packet mix brownies, I felt an urge to cook something real.  These two things were calling at me from the kitchen - beautiful fresh rhubarb, and a fat disk of shortcrust pastry, made recently and stashed in the freezer:

I am currently re-reading this book, Humble Pie, which is a really great read if you like pies or are interested in the folk history element of cooking.  The author muses about her childhood, her mother and grandmother, the Zen relationship to pastry making, the best sort of apples, growing rhubarb, lots of good things.  With pie on the mind, along with rhubarb and shortcrust in the fridge, pie was inevitable. 

Rhubarb pie is just the easiest thing - 'Easy as Pie!'  Mix 5 cups of chopped rhubarb (roughly a bunch, if you are buying it) together with 5 tablespoons of plain flour, 1 1/2 cups caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.  Set aside.

Roll out shortcrust to line a 9" pie dish (I always use Emile Henry pie dishes, they are vastly superior because the clay they use conducts heat brilliantly, ensuring your pie has a crispy bottom crust. Next best option is Pyrex, I think).  Tumble in the filling, and dot with about a tablespoon or two of butter.

Roll out your top crust, press over, trim the edges and then crimp them.  Cut several steam vents.  If you'd like, you can brush with egg wash and sprinkle on some sugar.  Bake at 220 for 15 minutes, then 180 for about 35 minutes or so.

You know it's cooked when a) it's a lovely golden brown on top and b) you need to see some thick, pink juices bubbling up from the vents.  If you're not seeing a good amount of juice bubble, it's not done!  It needs to be in long enough for the flour to thicken the juices, otherwise the pie won't set.

Here is a good start - but not enough juices yet...

I pulled it out when it looked like this.  It could have stayed in for another 5 minutes, probably, but it was fine.

It was a really ugly pie!  I had a house full of people, Tabitha was trying to climb me like a monkey, and also, because it was just for us to eat at home, I didn't bother making it too pretty.  But, like scones, the ugly pies are often the best, and a pretty pie does not mean it will taste good, necessarily. 

You MUST let a fruit pie cool completely before cutting.  Otherwise the juices will not set.  Think of the classic  'pie cooling on a windowsill'.  It has to cool.  If you have cats, do not leave your pie to cool on a windowsill - sit it on a wire rack instead!

Pie is good for dessert, breakfast (hey, it's fruit) and morning or afternoon tea.  I have just had pie for three consecutive meals (dessert, breakfast, lunch).  Rhubarb pie is, of course, quite tart, so it is best served with ice cream, custard or sweetened whipped cream.

Remember I told you that you must let pie cool completely before slicing?  Here is why.  Last night, the pie was 'cooled down' to a faint warmish feel, but not completely cooled.  We had some anyway - you can see the section on the left where we cut it.  This morning, it was completely cooled, and I cut some from the right:

Don't keep your pie in the fridge!  It will do bad things to the crust.  For 2-3 days, a fruit pie (no eggs, no milk or cream) can happily sit on the bench, covered with cling film.  This will also ensure it gets eaten - no one can resist the siren song of the fruit pie on the bench.

I told you the pie was ugly.  I feel ashamed of the ugly pie, because you, the reader, cannot taste how crisp the pastry was and how delicious the filling was.  So pride forces me to show you one of my prettier rhubarb pies:

Actually the one above was rhubarb and strawberry - a very good combination, and sweeter, for those who can't handle the full hit of rhubarb intensity.

I have never baked a chocolate cream pie.  I am going to try one soon.

Picnic

Yesterday, we went for a picnic down by the Yarra River at our local park.  Tabitha loves it there because it is a popular place for people to bring their dogs - to run around, or even to swim in the river!

The Daddy had worked very hard all week (as usual!) so decided to come home early, so we took down lots of yummy food and a brilliant bottle of Riesling (from my favourite winery, Freycinet Vineyard).

Because our park is so close, we can take hot food with us - I heated up some vegetable samosas and duck spring rolls (from the best deli around, in my opinion - Nick and Sue's in Camberwell).  We also took down some taramasalata and Turkish bread, crab claws, chili tofu, primavera olives, marinated octopus and rare roast beef (yep, all from Nick and Sue's)...

Tabitha loves picnics, because she can pick and choose, and wriggle around while she eats.  She likes feeding us too:

Her favourite was the chili tofu.  It's funny, the kid loves spice!  I have never been into very spicy foods, but I made an effort to eat plenty of spicy things while pregnant and breastfeeding, in the hope she would get used to the flavours (the chili never bothered her in my milk).  I don't know if it worked, but I will say that Tabitha adores anything spicy.

She spent much of the time watching the dogs.  She waved to each and every dog as they arrived at the park - and most of the lovely owners waved right back at her.

Hoovering the chili tofu:

See these three gorgeous little pugs?  Do not be fooled by their sweet faces and adorable curly tails.  Two of them ran over to us at great speed, and snuffled up some of our roast beef, just inches away from us!  "No!  No!" said Tabitha.  Never mind, they were terribly funny little things:

Keeping with the chili theme, Tabitha just loves dipping things.  Particularly into sweet chili sauce:

She also enjoys covering herself in taramasalata:

And using it as a fun, fish-scented finger paint all over her knees:

After we ate, Tabby and The Daddy went off to play with the ball:

And enjoy some great big 'whizzy dizzies'.  You could hear the shrieks of laughter from all the way across the oval.  The kid is a total daredevil.

Being a Mummy, I didn't think it was terribly wise to spin her around after a full meal, but she had a brilliant time, and tired herself out nicely.  Bed time as soon as we got home!

Have I mentioned how much she sleeps these days?  She has decided that 6pm is her bedtime (efforts to keep her up later result in a grouch, and she doesn't sleep any later in the morning.  So, every day like clockwork, Tabitha sleeps 6pm - 6am overnight, without a peep, then 12noon - 2:30pm (give or take) during the day.  I couldn't be more pleased, and she has worked it out all on her own.  Just goes to show - babies who co-sleep, sleep in the room, follow their own leads etc. can still turn into fabulous sleepers.  

She has not woken a single time overnight for around 5 months now.  The most we ever did to try and get her sleeping better was 'in and outs', that is, going in and patting or cuddling her, walking out once she was calm and sleepy, going back in if she got upset.  We did this for a few days when she was around 8 months old, with no distress - she actually seemed much happier once we started leaving her alone when she was tired!  From day one, we have followed her lead and it has worked really well for us.  Different things work for different babies, I'm sure, but the gentle approach worked for us, even when she was a terribly wakeful baby (until around 7 months or so), and has produced the most perfect sleeper I can imagine.  I just put her in her sleeping bag, sing her a song and a cuddle, lie her down, walk out, and she goes straight off to sleep.

Christmas Cake

Christmas Cake is a rich, dark fruitcake, which is also commonly used for christenings, weddings and other important celebrations.  It keeps beautifully, improving with age, and can be kept for a year or so, well wrapped, in a cool dark cupboard, or for several years in a freezer.

You may recall that we used the top layer of our wedding cake (October 2008) for Tabitha's baptism cake in December 2010.  I simply re-covered it with white icing - you can see pictures HERE and HERE.  It is traditional to save the top tier of a wedding cake for the baptism of the first baby, although many couples these days, who don't plan on having a baby right away, eat the cake to celebrate their first wedding anniversary instead. 

I have made one or two rich fruit cakes each year for Christmas since I moved out of home, around seven years ago, and I have also made a few for celebrations, such as the christening of my little cousin, Georgia Lily, several years ago (I decorated the cake with white icing and lilies made of white sugar).

Because the cakes keep so well, they are perfect to have on hand during the busy Christmas period - inevitably, lots of friends and family drop around for a Champagne or coffee, to catch up and exchange gifts.  You only need a small slice of the cake, since it is rich, and it will happily sit in an airtight tin for a few weeks, disappearing slice by slice.

I recommend making your rich fruit cake at least a month in advance, and three or so months is ideal.  Once cooked, wrap the cake well (either cloth and foil, or foil then in a plastic freezer bag, or cling film, or whatever you think best) and store in a cool, dark cupboard.  No need for the fridge - if you are saving it for more than a year, it's best to wrap well and store in the freezer after the first six months (it won't mature and improve once it's in the freezer, so allow it to age first).

Every few weeks, you can unwrap the cake, poke several holes in it with a skewer, and 'feed' it with a little brandy.

Really, making a rich fruit cake is as simple as simple - no more difficult to make the mixture than any regular cake.  However, the preparation of the tin is fiddly and can take a while to get right, so this is what I have focused on for this post - the lining of the tin!

This is the recipe I have used for years.  I can't remember where it came from originally, and I have tweaked it from the original regardless.  It uses a 20cm square tin.

To make the cake, you will need:

• 700g sultanas
• 225g raisins
• 130g currants
• 100g glace cherries (if you don't love the flavour, use less, but it is nice to include some for colour)
• 100g candied peel (or just add another 100g currants if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup slivered almonds (less if you'd prefer)
• 160ml brandy
• 250g butter at room temperature
• 250g brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons marmalade
• 350g plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• A good pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)

To prepare your fruit, pick over it carefully, discarding any hard stems, and then cut your sultanas, raisins, glace cherries and dates into smaller pieces, roughly the size of the currants (sultanas in half, raisins in 2-8 pieces depending on size etc).  Use scissors or a sharp knife.

Soak the fruit in the brandy for a day or two, in an airtight container.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy - a few minutes in an electric standing mixer.  Add the lemon and orange rinds, and beat for a little longer.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between, then add the vanilla extract and the marmalade, beating in.

Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and spices together, then mix into the butter and egg mixture, alternating with scoops of the soaked fruit.  At this point, you're best to use your clean hands to give it all a thorough mix.

Carefully spread into your prepared cake tin (see below), making sure the mixture is pushed firmly into the corners and all across the bottom.  Press down firmly with your hands, and drop the tin down onto the floor or bench a few times - you want to make sure there are no air bubbles in the mixture.  Use a damp hand to smooth the top down, making a slight dip in the middle (to stop it rising too much).

Bake at 140 degrees Celsius (no fan), on a low shelf in the oven (again, see below) for around 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours.  It's really difficult to be precise, because it is such a long time and ovens vary quite a bit.  When cooked, a skewer will come out clean, the top will be dark golden brown, and you can press your finger into the centre of the cake and it should spring back, not leave an indent.

Also - when the cake is not yet cooked, you can put your ear near the surface and hear it 'whispering' to you.  Once it is cooked, it will stop whispering, or be very quiet.  This is something you learn more and more, as you cook it more regularly.

When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven, cut away the high extra paper around the sides, pierce the cake all over with a skewer, and brush 2-3 tablespoons of brandy all over the surface.  Then, right away, wrap the entire cake with a double layer of foil.  This keeps the steam in as the cake cools, keeping it moist  Do not unwrap the cake until it is thoroughly cooled.

When you unwrap the cake, carefully turn it out of the tin, and wrap well for storage.

To serve, I recommend using a serrated knife, and cutting gently, sawing back and forth, to best avoid any crumbling.

Here are my instructions for preparing the cake tin.  In essence, you want to line the sides and bottom with two layers of brown paper, and one layer of baking paper (closest to the cake).  You then want to wrap the outside of the tin with a few layers of brown paper or newspaper, and sit the cake on several layers of paper or carboard.  You also want to sit a layer of baking paper, with a hole, over the top of the tin, to stop it browning too much.  Here you go...

Cut two lengths of brown paper (long enough to wrap the inside of the tin - so, around 80cm for a 20cm square tin).  Make sure that one of the sides is completely straight (e.g. from the edge of the roll) - this side should go down against the bottom of the tin, so it fits evenly.

The strips should be wide enough to extend about 10cm or so above the edge of the tin.  When lining the tin, to help stick the paper against the very edges and into the corners, I suggest greasing the tin with a light film of butter first.

You then need to cut two squares of brown paper, about 2cm wider than the bottom of the tin.  Cut the corners off, so that you can fold the sides of the squares up, leaving no gap between the sides of the tin and the bottom:

Do the same with the sides and bottom with baking paper.  You can grease the strip of baking paper to, to help it stick to the sides and corners.

Fill the tin, making sure there are no air pockets and then smooth the top with a damp hand:

Wrap another few layers of brown paper or newspaper around the outside of the tin, tying it on firmly with string:

Trim the top of the paper, so that it is all even, extending about 10cm or so above the edge of the tin.  On top of this, place a large square of baking paper, with a hole in the middle (about 4cm across in size).  This is to help protect the top of the cake from browning too quickly:

Sit the cake in the oven, on top of several layers of cardboard or brown paper or newspaper.  Put the cake on the bottom or second-bottom shelf of the oven.  I like to sit a shallow tray of hot water in the oven too, to keep the cake moist.  You can see, below, my set-up.  The tray of water is on the bottom left hand side:

When the cake is done, remove and proceed as described in the instructions above.  You can see here that the top of the cake is a little cracked - this is fine and normal, and will close neatly as the cake cools.  At any rate, it is normal to turn the cake over to ice (so that you have a perfectly flat and smooth top) so don't worry at all.

You can see that I've cut the 'excess paper' off the top quickly, so that I can wrap the whole lot in foil after I've brushed it with brandy:

In its foil package, cooling down overnight on the bench:

I won't do my decorating until the week before Christmas - a layer of marzipan and a layer or white fondant icing - so I will post about fondant later.  The decorating really isn't difficult though, just a bit fiddly, and if you'd prefer, you can cover the lot in a messy-on-purpose fluffy layer of royal icing instead, which looks gorgeous too.