My plan was to post a picture of the banana pudding pie I made last week and blog about how proud I was of how it turned out. But I have yet to get the picture, so I'll just tell you about the pie. I'll post the picture when I get it.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when I found a Southern Living magazine on the plane. On the cover was a picture of a slice of banana pudding pie. I love banana pudding, so I figured I'd make it some day.
Well, that day was last Sunday. Lewis and I made plans to have dinner with his parents, and I thought it'd be nice to take a dessert. The ingredients looked pretty simple, so how hard could it be, right? Well, I didn't stop to think that I'd be cooking in a not-so-equipped kitchen. Normally, it's not a problem. I've been ablt to make other meals work with the basic pots and pans and spoons.
I even made my own crust. Before you start thinking, "Wow", it was just two ingredients; melted butter and crushed vanilla wafers. The latter of which was supposed to be crushed in a food processor, but since that isn't a staple in Lewis' kitchen, I put them in a gallon Ziplock and smashed them with a plate. The recipe recommended smashing them with a rolling pin if a food processor wasn't available, but I haven't seen a rolling pin in years, least of all in Lewis' kitchen. But he did have a pie plate that was the size I needed.
But I was also going to need a whisk and an electric mixer. The whisk, well, I figured I could use a fork and some arm strength. Lewis does have an electric mixer, but it was in a box that was who knows where. No problem, I'll make it work.
I also had to separate egg whites from the egg yolks. And once again, I found myself without one of those egg separator things. So I just washed my hands, poured the egg into my hands and let the whites fall into a bowl. Then I put the yolks into another bowl. I was just following the recipe and not really thinking why I needed to do this.
So the recipe says to mix some dry ingredients with the yolks over medium heat and to whisk CONTANTLY for 8-10 minutes or until it has the consistency of pudding. So I stand over the stove with my fork in hand and whisk. And whisk. And whisk. And whisk.
10 minutes later, I still whisking away at yellow goop that is not anywhere near pudding like consistency. But what can I do? I just keep whisking. Finally, just when I think I am going to have the world's biggest omelet, it starts to resemble pudding. Thank gawd. I add vanilla, taste it, and it's not half bad. Little did I know I could just have made some instant pudding and it would have served the same purpose. (But it wouldn't have tasted as good!)
I lined my handmade crust with bananas and vanilla wafers layered with the pudding concoction. The final step was to top the pie with meringue and put it in the oven.
I have never made a meringue before. All I know about meringue is that the bowl, preferable a copper one, must be extremely clean. A glass one will have to suffice in KOL (kitchen of Lewis). Here's where I would need an electric mixer, which I don't have. So once again, I turn to my trusty fork.
I have to add a cup of sugar to the meringue as I mix, 2 tsp at a time. Whipping with one hand while trying to pour sugar with the other leaves a huge mess. So I had to stop the whipping every couple of minutes to pour some more sugar in.
It finally starts getting frothy, and I keep whipping and whipping with that fork because I know meringue is finicky and I'm afraid if I stop to rest it will fall or go flat or something. It keeps rising higher and higher, and my arm is about to fall off. I envision having a huge bicep on my right arm and a bony left arm.
When I finally am like, "Screw it, this is frothy enough", I take it to Lewis and he says it looks great. He should know because his "second-mom Becky" makes a key lime pie with meringue that he drools over.
So I top the pie, trying to make those little spikes that I remember my mom and Aunts Dianna and Mary Jane making on their lemon meringue pies. It kinda works, but they end up looking more like puffy waves.
After taking it out of the oven, it actually looks edible. I chill it in the fridge until we leave.
We did take a picture of me holding the pie, but like I said, we haven't downloaded it yet. Don't ask me why. Lewis is in charge of the camera. But I'll post a picture as soon as I get it.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. How did it taste? It was okay. I kinda modified the sugar content so it wasn't as sweet as it should have been. Next time I'll use all the sugar it called for and bake the crust a bit longer to make it more crispy. But otherwise, it was pretty good. Nobody got sick after eating it.
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