The Bananas Foster Pie was an experiment that turned out in the end. But for a brief time during the process of making this pie, I believed it would become the pie wreck of the year. My experience with custard pies has been fairly limited. There have been three thus far (I prefer fruit pies).
There was the icebox lemon pie which turned out beautifully. There was the scary green monster pie. This pie consisted of a chocolate pie shell, a true green vanilla custard, and chocolate drizzle on the top. The pie looked really cool and tasted great. But the custard did not set up properly so it was more like eating pudding. Or as a friend said, it looked like some of the slimy food from the movie "Better Off Dead". Green Monster Pie = fail.
And now to the Bananas Foster. This pie began with my pie shell which I blind baked. I then made a caramel sauce which consisted of brown sugar, butter, rum and cream. Can't go wrong there. Then onto the tricky part (at least for me). I made the custard filling but had a little freak out, as I often do, and took it off the heat to soon. The result of this was that the custard failed to thicken. I knew it. I knew it when I strained it. But in hopes of a custard miracle, I poured it on top of the sliced bananas and caramel which I had layered in the bottom of the pre-baked pie shell. Immediately, the banana slices floated to the top. Fail, fail, fail.
So began the process of reworking the whole pie. I poured the non-custard, which was now mixed with caramel, back into the saucepan. I sorted out the bananas and set them aside. I remade the caramel. No problem. Then began the daunting process of thickening the custard, again. I had to remember to be patient. I had to remember not to freak out. I had to make it work. And score, after added another egg, more cornstarch and more cream, it did. Now, the custard was custard. And even better, it was a caramel custard which I had not originally intended. I assembled the pie again - bananas, caramel, custard. No banana slices floated to the top - woo-hoo! Popped it into the fridge overnight. Got up early (that is a miracle in itself) and whipped up some vanilla cream in my trusty Kitchen Aid. And.... miracle of all pie miracles...behold the Bananas Foster Pie.
It was beautiful. It was delicious. I shared it with my trusty pie tasters. It did not last long. And I learned a very important custard lesson....Patience is indeed a virtue.
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