Banana Cream Pie

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  1 pastry recipe (please click here to go to my recipe for making easy pastry)
• Equipment needed:
• 1 pie plate
  rolling pin
  parchment paper or tin foil
  dry beans, peas or any legume (this is for the blind baking of the crust)
  ice for an ice water bath (cooking the custard)
  wire mesh strainer
  heavy pot for making custard
  pastry cutter (not absolutely necessary but very handy)
  large bowl
  plastic wrap
• Banana Cream Filling Ingredients:
  
  6 egg yolks
  3/4 cup white sugar
  3 tbsp. cornstarch
  1/4 tsp. salt
  3 cups whole milk
  4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  2 tsp. vanilla
  3 ripe bananas
  1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 very ripe banana (the blacker the better) for a flavour enhancer 
• Pie Topping:
  1 cup whip cream
  3 tbsp. icing sugar
• Press the 1/2 very ripe banana through a fine wire mesh strainer into the bowl that your hot custard will be cooled in. You will end up with about 1/8 of a cup of pure banana pulp and this will enhance the banana flavour of your pie. Set aside
• In another medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, bring milk just to a boil over medium high heat. Do not boil as the milk will burn. Remove from heat, and whisk about 1/2 cup of hot milk into yolk mixture whisking the entire time. Then pour the warm yolk mixture into saucepan with the remaining hot milk. Place saucepan back onto the stove over medium-high heat, and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in butter, one piece at a time, until melted. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Immediately strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl to remove any lumps. Place the bowl of custard in the fridge to cool or place over a ice bath to cool quicker.
• After custard is cooled: Peel bananas and slice very thin (1/4 inch thick) and place in a shallow bowl. Add lemon juice to coat the banana slices so they don't turn brown. Arrange the banana slices on the bottom of your 'blind baked' and cooled pie crust. Pour cooled custard over the banana layer. Spread the custard over the bananas are covered. Place a 2nd layer of bananas on top of custard and then pour the remaining custard on top of the bananas. Spread out custard so that the top is smooth and all the bananas are covered. Cut a piece of plastic wrap and place the plastic wrap on top of the custard. This will help to prevent a film from forming. Store pie in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight until the custard has set.
• When it is time to serve your pie whip up some whip cream to garnish the pie.

  

  Mike and Alexandra's pie

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Leanna's pie

  
  
  
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Butter Tarts

Filling:

2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. syrup ( I am using golden syrup)
1/4 raisins (optional but I love raisins)

Melt butter.  Add egg to a large bowl. Whisk the egg until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar, vanilla, vinegar, salt and whisk again.
Add melted butter.
Continue to mix until well blended.

Pastry ( please click here to go to my recipe of never fail pastry)


Roll out the pastry very thin and cut out 12 large rounds. This recipe has enough filling for 12 tarts.

Press each pastry round into each muffin cup.
Put 8-10 raisins in the bottom of each pastry round.
Pour filling into each muffin cup on top of the raisins to fill the tart. Do not over fill.


Bake at 400° for 22 minutes or until the pastry browns.
Remove from muffin pan after cooling for  minutes. They would be hard to get out if you let the sugary filling cool too much.

Breakfast Muffins with Carrots & Zucchini

2 medium carrots - peeled & shredded
1 small zucchini - shredded

5 eggs
1 cup brown sugar

1/2  cup white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

1 cup raisins (optional)

Peel carrots & wash zucchini (peeling the zucchini is not necessary). Shred both.
In a large bowl add eggs, oil, vanilla, & sugars.  Whisk until well combined.
Add flour, soda, salt, and mix well with a whisk or a spatula.
Add shredded carrots & zucchini and raisins if desired. Stir well but no need to over mix.
Spoon a large amount into each muffin cup in a greased muffin tin. Use all the batter as it only makes 12 large muffins

Bake for 30 minutes at 350°.

Tomato Marinade for Chicken

2 bone in chicken breasts

1 cup tomato sauce
2  tbsp. Frank's red hot sauce - original
3/4 cup white wine
1 tbsp. herbes de provence* or dried herbs of choice
2 tsp. honey
salt & pepper to taste ( my salt that I am using is from Epicure which I get from Lynn Oddy and it has a garlic component to it too)

Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl and then add to the chicken breasts in a zip lock bag or a container.
Allow to marinate overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes until the juices run clear.
Serve with your favorite starch dish or salad.

*Herbes de Provence is an aromatic mixture of dried Provençal herbs and spices, which traditionally includes thyme, basil, rosemary, tarragon, savory, marjoram, oregano, and bay leaf. 

Sushi rice made perfect

2 cups of sushi rice
2 cups of cold water
pinch of salt


Cleaning the rice:
Add rice to your best sauce pan that has a good, tight fitting lid. 
Rinse sushi rice in cold water in the sink to remove the milky starch from the rice. Use your clean hands to massage the rice. Drain off the milky water while keeping all the rice in your sauce pan. Repeat this 2 more times.
Rinse and drain your rice a total of 3 times.

Cooking the rice:
Into the sauce pan with the washed rice add 2 cups of cold water & a pinch of salt.
With the lid off quickly bring the rice & water up to the boil. Immediately turn off the heat and stir once only. Drape a clean tea towel over the pot (see pic below), put the lid onto the pot over the tea towel, then wrap the cloth over the lid so that the cloth does not touch the stove (you don't want it catching on fire). This helps to seal all the moisture in the pot.
Turn the heat back on to the lowest setting possible.
Turn the timer on for 22 minutes.
DO NOT PEAK, DO NOT LIFT THE LID

Cooling the rice:
After the timer goes off, lift the lid and gentle scoop the cooked rice into a large wooden bowl (preferable for cooling the sushi rice but any large bowl will do).
Don't worry about the rice stuck to the bottom of the pan, you don't need this rice. 

With a wooden spoon or spatula slice through the rice to start the cooling process. Add 1/8 cup rice vinegar and continue slicing through the rice. Do this gently as you do not want to crush the rice. 
The vinegar will soon evaporate while cooling the rice.  Add another 1/8 cup rice vinegar and continue slicing your wooden spatula through the rice. 
You will find that this action cools the rice down quickly.
Set your rice aside to make sushi rolls of your choice.

turn off heat, cover pot with a clean tea towel, then the lid

fold the clean tea towel back up onto the top of the lid so that it doesn't catch
on fire when you turn the heat back on to very low

Mushroom risotto with Chef Rhys

I am so excited to announce that Chef Rhys will be one of my  guest Chefs on Zoom Cooking Uncovered with Mir.
Rhys is the Executive Chef at Cactus Club Barlow Trail, Calgary and has been with Cactus for 14 years. He completed his undergrad degree from UBC and then attended  VCC Culinary School where he graduated with his Red Seal. One of his culinary favorites is risotto and today he is sharing his technique and his recipe with us.

Ingredients:
1L sodium reduced broth - use either chicken or vegetable

4 tbsp. olive oil
3 cups diced mushrooms - diced small
1 cup shallots or white onion
2 garlic cloves
1 cup of Arborio rice (see pic below) - short grain rice

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan  cheese
2 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. fresh parsley - brunoise diced

1 1/2 cups white wine
fresh parsley to garnish at the end
Equipment:
heavy bottom sauté pan
small pot to heat up the stock
wooden spoon

Pour your broth of choice into a pot on the stove and turn on to heat up. Nothing else goes into this pot...only the 1L of broth.
Now, turn on the heat to medium high to pre heat your sauté pan that we will make the risotto in.
Add olive oil to the sauté pan once it is preheated.
Add diced mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are half cooked and you can smell their aroma.
Add onions to the mushrooms and continue to cook while stirring until the onions are transparent (they are not white anymore).
Add garlic & continue to cook.
At this point you will notice that you have some 'fond' on the bottom of the pan which is a good thing. Deglazing those little bits is one of the most fundamental flavor-boosting techniques we can use in our cooking. In this process, you add a cup or so of liquid (like broth, wine, or water) to the hot pan. This will immediately create clouds of steam and help lift the fond. 

Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine to the the mushroom medley.
The pan will sizzle and this is a good thing...stir with your wooden spoon to dislodge the fond off the bottom of the pan.
Add dry risotto to mushroom/wine medley.  Keep the medium heat on and stir the risotto in.
This is a very important step and it is important not to rush this step.  The risotto needs this time in the sauté pan to absorb all the delicious flavors. Allow a couple of minutes at this step while you continue to stir.
At this point your broth in the other pot should be close to the boil.Turn it down so it remains hot but not boiling.
Pour one ladle of hot broth into the risotto mixture. Stir with your wooden spoon until this portion of broth is 90% absorbed. The risotto should never dry out.
Pour a second ladle of broth again in the risotto. Stir again until 90% absorbed.
Continue to add the broth as before, one ladle at a time until almost all your broth is gone and when the wooden spoon leaves a trace in the rice. After about 20 minutes, the rice should be al dente, having absorbed almost all the liquid and have a creamy consistency.
Add butter at the end with the parm cheese and parsley to garnish.  
Serve immediately with your choice of protein.  Yummy and thanks Rhys for this great recipe.

this is an example of Arborio Rice

Fillings for Pasties

Pasties are an appetizer type of finger food made with my fluffy pastry. I love these because it allows me to use up left over protein.  My Prawn Herb Pasties are delicious but a little bit more complicated then this recipe.  Please see the link below for the prawn recipe.

Simple left over protein pasties.
2 cups of left over chicken, beef, ground beef or turkey - cooked

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup potatoes - cooked & small diced 

any other vegetables that are cooked and left over such as carrots, brussel sprouts, turnip  - small diced

1 tsp. potato starch, corn starch or flour (for thickening)

1/8 cup vegetable broth.

salt & pepper to taste

Fresh vegetables can be added instead of cooked vegetables but they have to been very small diced so they cook quickly when put into the oven.

Add together in a large bowl. Mix well.

To see my recipe for the pastry please click on this link https://cookinguncovered.blogspot.com/2020/05/pastry.html

Please go to this link to see a recipe made with Prawns.

Roasted Pork Loin Rack

When I was at Kelsey and Jonathan's home in Calgary I cooked this pork roast one

evening and it was a big hit.  The trick with pork is to NOT overcook it because it can come out very dry. This is why I always use a probe thermometer. Below is my 'best practices' when cooking this type of pork rack roast.

Ingredients:

1 bone in Pork Loin Rib rack

2 large carrots

seasoning blend -1 tsp. pepper,

1/2 salt, 1 tsp. herbs (herb de provence)

Suggested equipment:

digital probe termometer

roasting pan

Rinse pork roast well under cold water and dry with a paper towel.

Pre measure your seasoning blend into a small bowl (this prep will ensure you are not putting raw pork juice all over your salt and pepper shaker)

Drizzle roast with olive oil and with your clean hands rub the seasoning mix onto all surfaces of your roast.

Wash 2 or 3 carrots. Cut them in half and use the carrots as your rack to keep the roast off the bottom of the roasting pan (see pic below).

Pre heat oven to 450° F (233°C).

Carefully insert the tip of the probe thermometer into the center of the roast, ensure you are not touching or close to the bones. This short video will be posted on Instagram and FB for you to see.

Set thermometer to 145° F and the alarm will sound when the internal temp. of the roast is 145°. 

Set your oven timer for 30 minutes. After the first 30 minutes reduce oven temp to 350°F and continue to roast until the thermometer's alarm sounds to tell you to take the roast out of the oven.

Remember that the roast will keep cooking after it is out of the oven. The temp will continue to go up and when I served my roast the internal temp was 152° F. Which is perfect.

Allow the roast to rest for 20 minutes and the serve with your choice of vegetables.

I use large carrots sliced in half for a rack

152° F is the internal temp of the roast when I sliced it and served

prep a small bowl of your seasonings 

Pastry - half recipe

Pastry made simple:


Suggested equipment:

hand mixer

pastry blender

rolling pin

plastic scraper is handy but not necessary 

if  the pastry needs a smaller shape a cookie cutter is a handy tool.

This pastry is very simply but a word of warning about pastry. It doesn't work well when you over beat 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. cold shortening (butter or lard can substitute for vegetable shortening)
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1 small egg
2 tbsp. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar but any vinegar will do)
3/4 cup of ice cold water 

Add all the liquids together.  Whisk until the egg is combined. You may or may not use the entire amount of fluid because it depends on the moisture already in your flour & shortening. Not to worry but if it seems to dry add 1 tbsp. more of cold water.

   

1.    Cut up shortening into cubes. Add dry  ingredients and shortening to a large mixing bowl.
Cut shortening up into the flour mixture until the shortening has been almost completely incorporated and the shortening is pea size.

2.  Add 3/4 of the egg liquid to the flour/shortening and combine with a fork or a hand mixer.  Careful not to over mix at this stage or your pastry will become tough. When the pastry starts to come together gently form into a ball with your hands. If you find it too dry, add a little more of the egg liquid until the pastry comes together and can be formed into a ball.  

3.     Gently press the dough into a flat disc and wrap in parchment paper and store in the fridge to chill until needed.

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ Making this pastry ahead is a great time saver. It keeps well for days in the fridge as long as it is wrapped well. If not being used it is convenient to freeze the pastry for future use. Also, after making your pie freeze the remaining pastry for later use.

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ If using a stand mixer in pastry making do not multi task. Stay at the mixer and pulse the machine on and off until the flour and shortening are slightly mixed but not totally combined. There should still be big size chunks of shortening (mealy) showing and plenty of loose flour. Do not try to incorporate every bit of flour as you may end up over working the pastry and it will be tough and not flaky.