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| What You Need: |
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PASTRY
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening or lard
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut in ¼ inch pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ice water
FILLING
½ cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons dark rum
1½ cups chilled heavy cream
3 large, ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch rounds
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| How To Cook: |
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1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, vegetable shortening or lard, butter and salt. Working quickly, use your fingertips to rub the flour and fat together until they look like flakes of coarse meal. Pour 3 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture, toss together, and press and knead gently with your hands until the dough can be gathered into a compact ball. Dust very lightly with flour, wrap in wax paper and chill the dough for at least ½ hour.
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2. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and 13 to 14 inches in diameter. Lift it up on the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie plate, leaving enough slack in the middle of the pastry to enable you to line the plate without pulling or stretching the dough. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife to within ½ inch of the pie plate and fold the extra ½ inch to make a double thickness all around the rim of the plate. With the tines of a fork or your fingers, press the pastry down around the rim.
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3. Preheat the oven to 400°F. To prevent the unfilled pastry from buckling as it bakes, either set another pie plate, lightly buttered on the underside, into the pastry shell, or line it with a sheet of lightly buttered foil. In either case, do not prick the pastry or the filling will run out when it is added later.
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4. Bake the shell in the center of the oven for 10 minutes, remove the pie plate or foil, then turn the oven down to 350°F for 10 minutes more, or until the pastry has lightly browned. Let the shell cool while you make the filling.
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5. FILLING: Sift the sugar, flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. With a large spoon, beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Heat the milk and 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan until the butter melts and small bubbles form around the edge of the pan.
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6. Slowly, pour it into the mixing bowl, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add the vanilla and rum, and return the mixture to the saucepan. Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring until it thickens to a smooth, heavy custard.
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7. Let it cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, beat ½ cup of the cream with a whisk or rotary or electric beater until it forms firm peaks on the beater when it is lifted out of the bowl. With a rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly fold it into the custard. Spread ¼ inch of custard on the bottom of the pie shell and arrange a layer of bananas on top of it.
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8. Continue alternating a layer of custard with one of bananas, ending with a top layer of bananas. Beat the remaining cream until stiff, and either pipe it on top of the pie through a pastry bag fitted with a plain or decorative tip or spread it on with a spatula in decorative swirls. Chill for at least an hour before serving.
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