Yelapa-Style Banana Pie

The Mexican meal last week needed a dessert so I chose another recipe from the ‘Food and Wine’ Issue on Mexico. 

This dessert was a lot like banana pudding with a crust. So, that is not bad.

Yelapa, a tiny beach community about, 45 minutes from Puerto Vallarta via water taxi, is known for its tropical pies. The sturdy crust for this pie has some salt and has a short-bread like taste because the pie can be eaten while sunbathing, with no utensils around. So if you want a banana pudding on your next picnic, choose this and you don’t need utensils.

The pie was loved by all the guests and was easy to prepare in the morning and I served it cold out of the fridge. On a hot night that just seemed appropriate. Enjoy!

 

From August 2018 issue of ‘Food and Wine’ Magazine.

Pay de Plátano de Yelapa (Yelapa-Style Banana Pie)

Serves 8

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 8 ½ oz.)

½ tsp. fine sea salt, divided

1/3 cup salted butter (2 2/3 oz.)

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

¼ cup water

3 large bananas (about 1 lb.), cut diagonally into 1/3-inch thick slices

2 large eggs, at room temperature

¾ cup whole milk

½ cup sweetened condensed milk

1 vanilla bean pod, split lengthwise, seeds scraped (very expensive and getting rarer) You can use real vanilla extract.

¼ cup granulated sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl, and make a well in the center. Set aside.

Combine butter, shortening, and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high, stirring constantly, just until butter and shortening are melted, about 2 minutes. Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pour butter mixture into well in center of flour mixture. Working quickly, use a rubber spatula to stir mixture until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer dough to a clean surface, and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.

Place dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper, and roll into a 12-inch (1/4-inch-thick) circle. Remove top sheet of parchment; discard. Use bottom sheet of parchment o lift up dough circle, and carefully flip dough over into a 9 ½-inchdeep dish pie plate. Remove and discard parchment. Patch tears in dough, if needed. Line pie dough with parchment; and fill with pie weights.

Bake in a preheated oven until crust is set, about 18 minutes. Remove pie weights and parchment, and continue baking, pricking crust with a fork to deflate bubbles if needed, until crust is lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer pie crust to a wire rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°f. Line piecrust with banana slices. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until completely blended. Add milk, condensed milk, vanilla bean seeds (or extract), and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt; whisk until combined. Carefully pour milk mixture over bananas. Bake at 325°F until edges are set and center is slightly jiggly, 45 to 50 minutes. (Banana slices will rise to top during baking.) Transfer pie to wire rack to cool.

If desired, sprinkle sugar evenly over top of pie. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize sugar. Serve immediately or chill overnight.