This is my version of Kenny’s winning quick fire challenge dish.  He made a pie with a great twist on a Banana Foster filling and it tastes amazing…

Using two different types of booze in one recipe is rather lavish and expensive.  Normally I would use a banana liqueur and rum in my recipe, but as this a budget recipe I have left out the banana liqueur. If you do happen to have some banana liqueur lying around in your cupboards then you can use that instead of orange juice. This still tastes great just using some good old rum.

Serves 5- 6 people

Banana Fosters:

• 90g unsalted butter
• 1 cup / 180g dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon five spice powder
• 3 tbsp tablespoon orange juice
• 4 bananas, chopped up (under ripe bananas are best)
• ½ cup dark rum
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Pastry:

• 350g / 3 cups plain flour
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• A pinch of salt
• 225g cool butter, diced
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk lightly beaten

You will need

• Pie dish (approx 22cm)
• Rolling pin
• Blender / large bowl
• Skillet / frying pan

Pastry:

First start by making the pastry, as you need to let it chill.  You can use a blender or a large bowl.  If using a blender add the flour and butter and pulse until it forms fine breadcrumbs, then add the sugar, nutmeg and salt and pulse a couple more times until well mixed.  Then add the beaten egg and pulse until it starts to come together in large lumps. Mould into a ball with your hands.

Cut 1/3 of the pastry off and put back into the blender.  Wrap the remaining 2/3 in plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Add 2 tbsp of milk to the pastry in the blender and pulse it until it becomes soft and mixed together.  Leave this to one side for later.  This is the cobbler topping.

If you don’t have a blender just add the butter and rub in using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add all other ingredients and mix until it forms large lumps and continue with the same process.

To make the Banana Fosters:

In a small bowl add the raisins and rum together so the raisins can soak up some of the rum and become extra juicy. (You can do this in advance)

Melt butter in a large heavy skillet / frying pan over low heat. Add brown sugar and five spice and stir until sugar dissolves. Add the orange juice and bring sauce to simmer. Add bananas and cook for 1 minute. Take pan off the heat and carefully add the rum and raisins. If the sauce is very hot, the alcohol will flame on its own. If not, using stick flame, carefully ignite the alcohol and keep cooking until flame dies out – this won’t take long. If sauce is too thin, cook for 1 to 2 minutes until it is syrupy in consistency. Lastly, add orange zest and stir.  Leave to one side to cool.

Assemble the pie:

Preheat oven to gas 5 / 190c / 374 f

Next lightly flour a pie dish approx 22cm diameter.  Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out so it is big enough to fit the pie dish.  Use the rolling pin to get the pastry into the dish by wrapping and edge of the pastry on the rolling pin and then lift it up carefully.  Trim off any excess pastry.

Add the banana filling.  Lastly spoon the soft cobbler topping you made earlier over the top in lumps.  Try and spread it out as much as you can but don’t worry if it doesn’t cover the entire top.

Pop into the oven for 30 minutes or until golden on top.

Serve this pie hot or warm with a big dollop of whipped cream of vanilla ice cream.  It’s a real treat!

Tip: Pastry always works better when you have a cold kitchen! So try not to handle it too much with hot hands as the butter will melt and it will be very hard to handle and roll out.  The best pastry makers have cold hands so the less you handle it the better.

Watch how to make it below: