Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Crumb Crust

Here is another recipe from the Momfuku Milk Bar cookbook: a luscious, intense banana custard in a bittersweet chocolate crumb crust. It's the first banana cream pie I've ever made.

The easy part is that this pie doesn't need to be baked. The slightly difficult part is that it takes several steps to complete: making the crumb for the crust, mixing the actual crust, mixing & cooking the banana custard, whipping cream to fold into the cooled custard, THEN assembling the pie. But it was worth it.

Next time, I would make individual parfaits by layering the cooled chocolate crumbs with the banana filling & sliced bananas in small ramekins, topping each off with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

 

Andouille & Corn Chowder

What can I say about this recipe? I mean, do you need a whole back story or quirky anecdote this time?  It's just soup, after all. Well, it's really good soup, good enough to share soup. Thick, rich, flavorful, spicy soup. Comforting soup. Pretty soup.

You know how when you say a word over and over and it starts to sound kinda weird? Yeah, that.

Soup.

Well, actually, this is chowder. Chow der, like saying "chew, duh." Chowder. Chowda.

Look at the word chowder for a while and tell me that doesn't look weird.

Now, look at this picture of the andouille & corn chowder that I made tonight and tell me that doesn't look delicious.

Bit-O-Honey Ice Cream

On New Year's Day, my friend Kyle showed up to my pizza party with bottles of wine and bags of Bit-O-Honey. "I got a whole case of these for Christmas," he explained. "You should make something with them."

While we briefly considered putting a few on a dessert pizza, I knew I could rise to the BOH challenge. My initial idea was ice cream, but I had to figure out how to incorporate the candy. Chopped & mixed in to almost-frozen, churning ice cream would create little hard chunks...not good.  I didn't think they would melt very well, either. But then, after browsing around online, I had a BRILLIANT idea...freeze several candies for about 10 minutes, just until they are hard enough to blitz to a powder in the Vitamix, then slowly melt the powder into the hot custard as it thickened.

AND IT WORKED.

Damn, I love that VEETAmix.

S'more Shooters

With the holiday gluttony and new year celebrations behind us, most people are detoxing and making resolutions. But, I say, fuck that shit. We should live life to the fullest every day, not just during the holidays.

I've been thinking about how people only celebrate on "special" occasions. They only use great-grandma's good China once or twice a year, they are saving that expensive bottle of wine for the perfect moment, or they only take time to visit family & friends during the holidays.  The problem with saving something for a special occasion is that the occasion may never happen. Life is a fickle bitch, and she'll smack you upside the head when you least expect it. I learned this very quickly when my mom suddenly dropped dead at age 47 (sixteen years ago this month).

Last week, my oldest and bestest friend lost her house in a fire. Luckily, she and her family were out of town at the time, so they are all safe. But, they've lost pretty much everything they owned. I can't even imagine this kind of devastation. Of course, contemplating the "what-ifs" is the worst thing (the fire seems to have started in the middle of the night, in the basement underneath their 10-year-old son's room, a room which was completely destroyed by the flames).

This has made me think a lot of my life and the things I am grateful for. Overall, I am pretty damn lucky, and I should appreciate what I have. I need to just celebrate good life in general.

So, I'm going to break out my Waterford champagne flutes for Sunday morning mimosas. I'm going to keep in contact with my family more often. And, I'm going to indulge in little treats like S'more Shooters for no special reason at all:

Makes 12

12 large marshmallows or 35 mini-marshmallows

1 cup half & half

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 ½ cups whole milk

¾ cup amaretto

½ cup graham cracker crumbs

Bacardi 151 or other flammable liquor

1.  In a small saucepan, bring the half & half to a boil. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate & stir until melted.

2.  Return the chocolate to the pot & whisk in the milk. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer & stir in ½ cup of amaretto.

3.  Pour the remaining amaretto into a small bowl. Place graham cracker crumbs on a small plate. Dip the rims of shot glasses into the amaretto, then the crumbs.

4.  Transfer the hot chocolate to a measuring cup with a spout and fill the shot glasses. Top each with one large marshmallow or three mini-marshmallows, and pour a tablespoon of 151 over each class. Ignite with a lighter to toast the marshmallow. Blow out before drinking.

5. Say a toast & drink up! 

Best of 2011

I neglected my poor little food blog big time this year. I only posted 28 times all year...quite different from the 192 posts I published in 2008. But, I hereby vow to do better in 2012.

This past year was a rough one for me. My (new) marriage started falling apart last spring & by the fall, I was broken-hearted and divorced (again). Instead of cooking, I spent most of my time drowning in work, eating junk (aka comfort) food, crying, sleeping, or generally wallowing in self-pity. I just didn't have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to do much else, especially cook...and cooking an elaborate dinner for one just made me more depressed.

BUT...I'm moving forward now, looking ahead to better years, instead of dwelling on all my past mistakes and heartaches. To help the new year be a happier one, I've set a few goals:

1.  Cook one new thing each week - That was my inspiration when I started this food blog back in 2007. Cooking was my therapy then. I need to get back to that.

2.  Complain less - To help me focus on the positive things in my life, I'm going to keep a memories jar. I'll write down the good things that happen throughout the year and put them in the jar. At the end of the year, I'll read all my notes to remind myself how good my life really is.

3. Stop procrastinating - Recently, I was up until 2:30 am grading papers because I put them off too long. I will be better about getting work done in a timely matter this semester.

4.  Love bigger - I am lucky to have some wonderful people in my life (Corey! Stephanie! Sarah! Janice! Etc!). I will show my friends how much I appreciate them more this year and just be good to people in general.

* * * 

Despite my lack of cooking this year, I did make a few good dishes. Here are my favorites:

Best of 2011

Popcorn Ice Cream

Tomato-Braised Calamari

Egg Yolk Raviolo

Winter Panzanella

Lemon Curd

Deviled Ham

Thomas Keller's Rubbed & Glazed Pork Spareribs

Braised Korean Short Ribs

Salted Caramel Sauce