Banoffee Pie Supersized

Years ago, my son went off to live in Ireland and play football there for a year or so. When he came home, he brought with him a recipe unlike any I had ever tried. It was a rich, succulent combination of fresh bananas, toffee and whip cream all served up in a pie. The intriguing part of the  recipe was how the toffee was made. You take a tin of Sweetened Condensed Milk, put it in a large pan, cover completely with water and boil for two hours. This can be done well ahead. When you take the lid off,(please cool first) you have a gorgeous pot of dark, rich toffee !! Little tip.. Do not go out

shopping while this is boiling as you may forget about it and come home to a ceiling covered in toffee, due to the water cooking down and the tin exploding ! True story ! So, keep the tins covered in water at all times and stand by or close ! I am making this pie extra big for a more visual effect. I made it in a 9 inch cheesecake pan but if you half the recipe, a regular pie plate works fine. If boiling the tins makes you nervous, the sweetened condensed milk already caramelized is available in all supermarkets now.. It is called Dulce DE Leche. It works just as well but I find it sweeter and a bit runny and not so decadent ! This is a very traditional English/Irish dessert and never ceases to amaze, considering how easy it is. I give it a quick freeze (not frozen) before serving for easier cutting. You can get fancy and

pipe the whip cream but I just pile it on and drizzle with a bit of saved toffee and a few fresh bananas. Definitely a do ahead crowd pleaser !!

                        BANOFFEE PIE

Crust

Ingredients 

•1 1/2 cups graham wafer crumbs

•6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well ingredients and press into a well greased 9 inch cheesecake pan 

Bake 375 degrees for 12 minutes. Cool.

Pie Filling

Ingredients 

•2 tins sweetened condensed milk.

•4 thinly sliced bananas 

•2 cups whipping Cream

•4 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Method:

Step 1: Boil two tins sweetened condensed milk for two hours. Make sure the tins are completely covered with water. Let cool.

Step 2: Carefully scoop cooked milk into graham shell. Spread around evenly. 

Step 3: Top the toffee layer with 4 thinly sliced banana. 

Step 4: Next whip 2 cups of whipping cream with 4 Tbsp brown sugar. Pile whipped cream on top of the bananas. 

Garnish: Save a few banana slices and a couple of tbsp toffee and decorate top of pie. You may need to microwave toffee 10 seconds or so for easy drizzling. Chill

well before serving.

Beer Bread Revisited with Creme Fraiche and Smoked Salmon

Beer Bread Revisited with Creme Fraiche and Smoked Salmon

I have already told the story in my bio of discovering a recipe for Dill Beer Bread and marketing it. It was so fast and easy , it became a staple in our catering offerings, cut into small squares, smothered
with cream cheese and topped with Smoked Salmon and Dill. So popular, my sister is still offering it on the menu some thirty years later !
But now, as I am obsessed with baking homemade French Bread, thanks to a quick and wonderful recipe my brother gave me. I have decided it is
time to reinvent my old Beer Bread recipe and what a discovery that has been. ! The original , heavier quick bread texture has been Replaced with a spongy, dilly wonder !! And for those of you who are
timid to bake with yeast, it is time to get over it ! It is no harder than adding a tablespoon of sugar to your flour. But you must use INSTANT DRY YEAST. Make your dough in the morning and bake it fresh for dinner ! Or mix it quickly together at night and bake it in the morning ! The homemade Creme Fraiche is a throwback and a nice tart
change from cream cheese with the Smoked Salmon.
So lets's get busy and show your family and friends what you can Really Do !!

                                 DILL BEER BREAD REVISITED

2 cups white flour, 2 tsp salt, 4 Tbsp chopped fresh dill, 2 Tbsp
chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp DRY Instant Yeast. Whisk all ingredients together. Slowly stir
in about 1 cup (you may need more) room temperature Beer or Lager.
Darker beer will give a more intense flavor which you may like. Stir
just until flour is all mixed in. You should have a slightly wet,
raggedy  dough. Scoop into a well oiled, clean bowl. Cover with wrap
and let rise at least five or more hours. When ready to bake, scoop
into a long  French Bread pan that is well greased. I use cooking
spray, lots of it. These pans are available online and also some can
bake three loaves at a time. That is what I have. You may also use a
traditional loaf pan. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a shallow
pan of water on bottom rack. Brush top of dough  with melted butter
and chopped fresh dill and a bit of grated lemon peel. Bake for twenty
-five minutes. Cool on rack before slicing. Serve thin slices topped
with a dollop of Creme Fraiche, smoked salmon, capers, fresh dill and
more lemon zest. Can be assembled at the last moment as it is quick
and easy to put together.

                                CREME FRAICHE

1 Cup whip cream , 1 1/2 Tablespoons Buttermilk . Place in a jar.
Stir slightly and cover with a piece of cheesecloth or paper towel.
Let sit 12 - 24 hours at room temperature until thick and spreadable.

Cream cheese may be used instead bur Creme Fraiche is tangy and of course, very
Retro !

Retro Appetizer: Cheese Sticks

Back in the fifties, my parents used to visit dear old childhood
friends, a lovely old English couple. They would play cards and have
snacks. The friend used to serve a delicious cheese appetizer, long
before appetizers were appetizers. She called them  simply "Cheese
Squares". My Mom continued to make these for years and when I started
catering and cooking classes, I always featured these. They were so
well received and people were always intrigued by their unusual flavor
. To this day  , they remain a big seller from the freezers of my
sister's catering shop ! I have changed and slightly updated the
format but really ,they are perfect just as they always were !  And
the best part is once they are prepped, they freeze beautifully until
they are ready to be broiled to golden perfection !
My mom, always the little business person, hoped that one day one of
her grandchildren would take this gem of a recipe and run with it !
And before the market got so rigid and particular, this may have taken
off ! Right into her late eighties, she talked and dreamed of this
happening ! The special ingredient is Imperial Cheese, a sharp old
Cheddar spread. That, whipped with butter becomes a thick spreadable
frosting for the bread sticks. Start with an unsliced loaf of white
bread. Freeze it for awhile to ensure easier cutting. Then slice off
all the crusts. Cut the loaf into thick slices and then sticks. The
original recipe is sliced into squares.  Frost the sticks on all sides
except the bottom and place on a foil lined cookie sheet and freeze
until serving time. When ready to serve, place sticks inches apart and
broil until golden and Bubbly. At this point, I like to drizzle with
Balsamic Reduction. And the magic lives on !

RECIPE:
1 loaf unsliced, white bread, all crusts removed
1 230 G container of Imperial Cheese
6 Tablespoons butter or high quality margarine
Balsamic Reduction

Cut bread into thick slices, then into sticks. Meanwhile, whip cheese
and butter in food prossessor until well mixed and creamy. Frost
cheese sticks and freeze. When ready to serve, preheat broiler. Broil,
not to close to the top of the oven, until golden and bubbly.
Drizzle finished sticks with Basamic Drizzle. Serve right away .

Welcome!

During this strange and trying time in our lives, we begin to go
through cupboards and closets, hoping to restore and organize, get
something done . Anything ! So, I opened a wardrobe cupboard and found
every Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazine since the early seventies. Why
on earth did I keep them ?? With a passion for cooking at a very early
age , I became obsessed with these magazines and anxiously awaited
their arrival every month, pulling out every intoxicating recipe I
could !  I had been making up recipes since I was ten and was cooking
most of the family dinners by thirteen . My mom was a wonderful cook
but she came to enjoy not having to be ! As a young stay at home mom,
I began to duplicate these recipes and make special candlelight
dinners for my young husband every Friday night . And to this day we
still enjoy this little ritual !
Then my wonderful Mom gave me a book that changed my life ! "HOW TO
TURN YOUR KITCHEN INTO A GOLD MINE"  It was a book that told of young
entrepreneurs with a passion for cooking that turned  this passion to
gold . I was hooked ! Not on the thoughts of gold so much as to think
I could create a whole career based on something I loved so much! I
was off to the races ! I put an ad in the local paper and a month
later I catered a wedding for seventy five people ! Unfortunately ,
one hundred seventy -five people came and we ran out of food (the
bride's mother was off on her numbers)  but other than that, I was
thrilled ! My catering career had begun !
Besides being a true Foodie back then, I was also obsessed with great
coffee. I love the smell, the ambiance , everything about it ! This
was all ten or twelve years preStarbucks. . There was a tiny little
shop in town that sold  many types of exotic coffees, teas and spices.
I loved everything about it and when I found out it was for sale, my
Mom helped me buy it with my young sister . To this day, I can still
remember the  enticing smell of that little shop, a combination of
fresh coffees and spices. So ahead of its time ! We served big
sandwiches and soups and cheesescake and of course , wonderful coffee
! It became very popular but after two years and both my sister and I
with young babies, we  had to sell it, not knowing what the future
held for the world of coffee ! I continued to cater from home. My
sweet husband built me a separate kitchen just for this and I juggled
my time raising my two little boys and establishing a name for myself.
I soon outgrew that kitchen and in 1988 I opened my first
Catering/Takeout shop in a local mall, just minutes from my home. My
sister later joined me as a partner and eventually took it over
herself. Today, all these years later, it is bigger and better than
ever, probably the number one catering company in the area ! I am very
proud of her !
But, even before this , I began teaching cooking classes, first in
people's homes and then I approached a local winery. People would go
on a wine tour and  I would do a cooking presentation .There would be
about forty-five people and to this day, I don't know where I got the
nerve !After that, we eventually built a new, very large kitchen to
accommodate classes in my home. And these classes ran for about
fifteen years !
During the course of my career, I put three of my best recipes on the
market.The first was  Filo pastries, long before they were available
anywhere else. I discovered Filo in my Bon Appetit in the seventies
and was totally intrigued by it. I made Spinach Pies, Seafood Pies and
Cheese Pies and a chain of department grocery stores ordered them
from me ! No money to be made there for all that work ! And the public
was not ready for Filo Pastries, if you can believe that !
Then I found a recipe for Dill Beer Bread (also Bon Appetit). It was a
simple dry mix that you add a bottle of beer to and create a rustic,
wonderful loaf ! I decided to market this for Expo 86 ! My mom and
husband worked with me on this one . I created two more flavors, Herb
and Cinnamon and had them packaged in cute, colorful boxes. We
presented them to a trendy boutique beer company, Granville Island
Brewery and they agreed to sponsor us with their name and GRANVILLE
ISLAND  BEER BREAD was born ! ( about a month too late for the Expo 86
souvenir deadline). Even so, it did well and and we eventually sold
it. That was a long time ago but more recently, I presented my very
special Chocolate Chip Crisp Cookie to a trendy food chain and they
loved them ! But, once again, no money to be made here for all the
hard work ! You go to Starbucks and think nothing of paying $2.50 for
a cookie but try charging more than .50 cents in a grocery store, even
a trendy, upscale one, and no takers ! Those three ventures were the
hardest part of my career and the least profitable ! Just watch
Dragons Den for proof here !
I didn't stop there. I published a cookbook, had a spot on BCTV as the
first SATURDAY MORNING CHEF for four years and opened two small
bistros.
So, that book my precious Mom gave me,  took me on quite a culinary
journey ! Did I discover a Gold Mine ? Not really. But I discovered
parts of me I never knew existed. I discovered  opportunities and
experiences doing exactly what I loved to do ! And now, I realize  why
I kept all those treasured magazines of long ago. I want to share
these timeless, tried and true  recipes, as  they lead me on yet
anther path . I love to cook and I love to write ! It's time to BLOG !
Stay tuned !

Recipes Coming Soon!