The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern_ Knockout Dishes With Down-Home Flavor - Matt Lee [67]
For us, sweet concentrated banana needs a little lemon juice, to brighten and focus it and to keep it from seeming too cloying. Instead of trying to blend all the ingredients into a uniform pudding, we opt to prepare them separately—bananas, pudding, cream—and to layer them in a parfait glass, so the person eating the dessert gets to perform the finishing blend. Oh, and the contrasting crunch of cookies (so necessary to the success of any banana pudding) in our version is represented by veins of crushed gingersnaps, added between layers. The flavors of ginger, rum, and banana are a tropical troika to rival basil, mozzarella, and tomato.
And if you don’t own parfait glasses, stemmed wineglasses will do perfectly. Anything but a foil pan!
BANANAS
2 pounds ripe bananas (about 5 large bananas), peeled and broken into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
CUSTARD
3 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
RUM-FLAVORED WHIPPED CREAM
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons premium-quality dark rum, such as Mount Gay or Myers’s
¾ cup crushed gingersnaps (approximately 8 cookies)
1 Combine the bananas, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is a smooth puree. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the banana puree to prevent browning, and reserve in the fridge (it will keep for up to 24 hours).
2 Heat the milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until it just begins to steam. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and cornstarch until evenly combined. Whisking constantly, pour the warm milk into the eggs in a thin stream; whisk until they’re combined. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the custard is thick and bubbling, about 4 minutes. Transfer the custard to a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the custard, covered, until it is well chilled, about 30 minutes.
3 When you are ready to serve the dessert, whip the cream with the sugar and the rum until it forms stiff peaks. Layer the custard, banana puree, and cookie crumbles in parfait glasses until the glasses are two-thirds full. Finish with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Banana Pudding Parfaits will keep in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before the gingersnap layer begins to become soggy. If you wish to keep the assembled parfaits in the fridge for up to 2 days, layer only the custard and banana puree in the glasses and cover them with plastic wrap; then, just before serving, finish each parfait with a layer of gingersnap crumbles and a dollop of whipped cream.
BUTTERMILK PUDDING CAKES WITH SUGARED RASPBERRIES
serves 8 • TIME: 15 minutes
These individual dessert cakes, which bake in less than 10 minutes in a standard nonstick muffin pan, combine the warming comfort of vanilla custard with the tangy righteousness of a buttermilk pound cake. We serve them hot, with sugar-dusted raspberries—the cakes’ warmth softens the raspberries slightly, making them alluringly jammy. So simple, so delicious.
You’ll note from the variations that follow that these cakes are true dessert heroes in our simple, fresh, southern kitchen. Often we’ll go to the market knowing that this cake (which uses ingredients we wager are in your pantry already) will be the foundation for a riff on whatever fruit looks best that day.
If you don’t own a nonstick muffin pan, spray your pan with cooking spray (or grease the pan with butter, then dust it with flour) before pouring in the batter.
BUTTERMILK PUDDING CAKES
¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour (3 ounces)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs
¾ cup whole or lowfat buttermilk
1 teaspoon