“I’d like S’more Please…”

I never ever feature other cooks or chefs on my blog, not because I don’t want to, but it’s more like we never have other cooks or chefs that grace us with their presence aside from Heather, Mayeth and/or Brett. OK, maybe I don’t want to share but..last night that all changed!

13 year old Alexander Paul Matla (yes, my son) decided to make his first dessert to celebrate his sister’s Permanent Resident status in Singapore.  The dessert? Chocolate S’more Pie…with all the trimmings! As a treat, I promised to share the spotlight and give Alex a well deserved top spot on our blog! Son, this one’s for you!

This is a three part recipe and you’ll need to prep your ingredients in these stages:

One:  The Crust:

• 1 package of graham crackers
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar

Two: The Filling:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Three: The Topping:

• 4 egg whites
• Dash of salt
• 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

And now, this is all you have to do:

For the crust, preheat your oven to 350°F and place your rack in the middle of the oven.  Place your graham crackers into your trusty food processor and give them a good pulsing, until you’ve got a nice even texture worthy of a pie crust base. Combine your melted butter, graham crackers and sugar in a medium sized bowl and then once combined place it all in the bottom of a spring form pan. Try to pat it down evenly across the entire base.  Bake for 10-15 minutes  though Alex says he’d take it out at 10 minutes to cool rather than the 15.

Now lets move onto the filling! Whisk together your sugar, cornstarch, salt and egg yolks in a heavy saucepan until all the ingredients are fully combined. Next, add your milk in a stream whilst whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil over a medium heat (whisking, whisking, whisking) and then bring down the temperature to a simmer. Whisk away until the filling becomes thick (a few minutes should suffice.)

Once thickened, force your mixture through a micro sieve into a mixing bowl.  Now the fun part.  Whisk in your melted chocolate, soft butter and vanilla.  Pure magic! Now let the mixture cool down properly before you spoon it into the pie mould (at least 2 hours.)  Once you do add the mixture, let the pie set for 4-6 hours before you prepare for the finale!

The topping goes something like this. Beat your egg whites and salt in your trusty mixer until you get soft peaks occurring. Gradually add your marshmallow creme until your start to see some hard peaks forming.  If you dare, stand underneath your meringue and see if any plops out.  If it does, it’s not ready!  (see photo below) Spread the meringue evenly over the set pie and create peaks.  Alex peaked with the back of a spoon, you can also use a spatula to create bigger peaks.

Now as all 13 year old boys love to do…it was time to torch the peaks to give the pie its final look and taste.  Carefully and evenly, torch the tips of the peaks until they become a lovely golden/darkish brown.  Any more and you’ll burn it!

Remove the spring side from the pan and serve up what can only be described as “One Yuuuuumy Pie!” Thanks Alex, that was not easy and it was absolutely delicious for your first attempt at a real dessert!

Overall Heather (and Dad) Rating: 10/10

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Baked Banana Balinese

Who’da’thought that grilling dessert could be so tasty.  This recipe really had an interesting side effect and that could have been attributed to all the smoke that billowed from the egg as the banana skins grilled.  Funny enough, it smelled a bit like having Cheech and Chong bonging up in the back garden!  The end result was a really tasty way to cook bananas BUT a smokey flavour that balanced out the sweetness of the brown sugar, coconut and cognac.  Strange but gooooooood!

So here’s the secret as done last night:

Ingredients:

• ½ Cup Butter (room temp; not melted)
• ¾ Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
• ½ Cup Walnuts finely chopped
• ¾ Cup Coconut (flaked)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 TBS of Remy Martin VSOP Cognac (sorry Dad, I only use top shelf for desserts!) Using a bit more than the original recipe but the flavour of a good cognac cannot be beaten!
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 qt Vanilla Ice cream
• 4 Bananas, large and Yellow, with a little green on skins

Preparation Directions:

• Stir together butter, brown sugar, walnuts, coconut, vanilla, cognac, and cinnamon in medium mixing bowl until well combined.
• Cut stem ends off bananas. Carefully cut bananas into even halves lengthwise. Do not peel them
• Place cut bananas on baking sheet, skin side down.

Cooking Directions:

• Spread topping on banana halves, allowing about 2 Tablespoons per banana half.
• When bananas have been topped and Egg is at 350 F, place halves on grid, skin side down, leaving ½ inch space around each.
• Close lid. Top vent should be quarter way open. Bottom vent open about ¼ to ½ inch. Temp is forgiving with this recipe but should keep a range between the 325-350. Cook 17-20 minutes. Don’t worry about the smoke….and there will be a lot of smoke with a fairly “interesting” aroma.
• Finished bananas will pull slightly away from sides of skins and coconut will be slightly crispy. Skins will be dark brown. Do not let coconut blacken. A little charring around edges is okay.
• Remove bananas with long spatula – if you use tongs you’ll break the bananas so be careful here.
• Allowing 2 halves per serving, place on plate and top with scoop of honey vanilla ice cream from the Daily Scoop in Holland Village

Special Instructions:

• Before spreading topping mixture, if it seems loose, add more coconut
• Use firm bananas for best results
• Banana halves closest to edge of grid will cook a little faster
• Nuts must be finely chopped to spread properly

So with the photos below, I clearly need to work on my plating & presentation.  When I looked at the photos this morning I simply laughed.  Yes, it looks like someone took a big poo on our grill but let me assure you, these bananas were extremely tasty and easy to make.  The topping mixture was absolutely insane with a gorgeous blend of coconut, walnut, brown sugar, butter and cognac – you picked up all these flavours coupled with a smokey aftertaste that was weird at first but completely unique!

A great dessert – play with the portioning and presentation!  I’ll do this one again one of these days!

R

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Rum-Berry Cobbler

OK so we nailed what can only be described as a perfect 10 in terms of grilled desserts!  Robyn’s Rum-Berry Cobbler (with a few tweaks) proved a massive winner at last night’s dinner.  Both Heather and our dear friend David were speechless!  I decided to prep this dish in the late afternoon with a quick reheat on the grill just after our mammoth meal.  I used a cast iron skillet/pot that I purchased a few weeks ago and it worked like a charm!  So here are the secret ingredients for an amazing grilled dessert!

Ingredients:

2-3 cups fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)
2-3 tbsp Dark Rum from the Philippines (I’ve used this stuff religiously with amazing flavour results!)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup white sugar (infused with vanilla bean pods)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (balsamic helps draw out the juice and sugar of the fruit – nice trick Robyn, thanks!)
1 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tbsp butter
** mint or basil (optional) – I used basil as we were out of fresh mint – all the same, it tasted fantastic!

Topping:
1 1/2 cups Bisquick – I couldn’t find “Bisquick” in the market so I made my own: flour, baking p0wder and vegetable oil – simple substitute and it worked fine!
1/2-3/4 c. cup milk
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the “Bisquick” substitute, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon together.Mix the berries, white sugar, rum and balsamic vinegar together (and basil if adding) and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes or longer while you assemble the topping. I let it sit for about 25 minutes. Now, pour the berry mixture into a cast iron skillet that can go on the grill. Cut the butter into little pieces and spread on top. Pour the Bisquick mixture on top, it will cover 75% of the berries. Get the grill hot- around 300 degrees. Now, keep the grill at medium to medium low and put the cobbler on indirect heat. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, give or take, until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

I let this cobbler sit for about 4 hours and then reheated it on the grill still inside the cast iron skillet.  It worked beautifully and was served nice and warm with a big dollop of Caramel/Macadamia Nut ice cream.  Vanilla is great but I couldn’t find a real vanilla ice cream!

That was a fantastic dessert and one we’ll do again and again!

R&H

PS – the look that Heather is giving us is one of “I can’t believe YOU came up with a dessert this good…” Nice to get that kind of look once in a while from the Dessert Queen herself!  Love ya baby!

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Dessert on a Grill? Crazy but true!!!

Dessert on a grill…a great idea but can it be done?  With the Big Green Egg…..Hells Ya!

Page 247 of the Big Green Egg Cookbook shares the secret of Bananas Foster: “This classic banana dessert, first prepared by Paul Belange at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans, is traditionally served over vanilla ice-cream.” It is usually prepared at the table-side. At the end of the preparation, the banana liqueur and rum are ignited, making for a dramatic presentation.”

I didn’t have a dutch oven, save for what we keep under the bed sheets, so I used a steel wok that I use on the grill for just such occasions.  Took no time at all to cook these bananas – we substituted banana liqueur for Malibu (thanks to a friend who left a bottle at ours…why?  No one really knows…)

Here’s the recipe:

• 8 tbs unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup Malibu coconut rum
• 1/4 cup  dark rum (from the Philippines!)
• Honeycomb Vanilla ice cream to top (we got ours from the homemade ice cream shop “The Daily Scoop” down the street!)

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