Patina’s Banana Cream Pie

PIE-A-DAY #47

This recipe comes to us from Tony Esnault, Executive Chef at Patina here in Los Angeles.

Photo by Lauren Noble

When I have too many bananas at home and they are beginning to get a little too ripe I will put them in the freezer. Once I have enough of them I like to make this pie. It’s easy to make at home and everybody loves it.

Keep reading for the recipe…

1 cup flour

1/2 cup pastry flour

1 1/2 T sugar

pinch ground ginger

small pinch cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes

Sift the dry ingredients and whisk together in a bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or your fingers until it gets sandy. Add 1 tablespoon at a time of ice water until the dough finally forms a ball. Press into a disc, wrap, and put into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a 12-inch circle (1/4 ” thick). Put into a 9″ pie dish and press it into the dish. Trim any excess. Freeze.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, and then bake another 10. Remove the parchment and beans and bake until browned.

Banana Cream Filling

1 cup cream, whipped

3 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

3 T cornstarch

1 cup milk

1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced

small pinch salt

1 vanilla bean

2 T butter

Heat the milk with the ginger, salt and vanilla bean. In a small bowl whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Add a small amount of heated milk to the yolk mixture and whisk. Return the entire mixture to the pot with the rest of the milk and whisk. The mixture will get thick and stick to the whisk. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. Strain, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

Fold in 2/3 of the whipped cream to the cooled pastry cream. Reserve the other 1/3.

*To put together: Melt 3 oz. of milk chocolate and pour into the baked pie crust to evenly coat the bottom. Place in the cooler just to set. Once set, spread the pastry cream into the crust, alternating layers of pastry cream and cut bananas. Garnish the top of the pie with the reserved whipped cream and milk chocolate shavings.