Once upon a time…
Well, this will not be a fairytale, but this is the first phrase that comes to mind when I realize that I have to write my first post in English at KokenmetFrank. Why write a post in English on this Dutch blog? As you night know, I am quite interested in molecular influences in the kitchen. One of this influences is the TGRWT (They Go Really Well Together) series on Khymos.org. Last October a series hosted with the combination of banana and cloves; an inspiring combination, the sweetness of banana (which goes very well with parsley by the way) with the pickled taste of cloves.
Making a bavarois birthday pie for my father was the one opportunity where I could make a combination of those two ingredients. Where he didn’t plan to celebrate his birthday I invited myself by only demanding a cup of coffee; I would bring the pie. From yoghurt and soft curd cheese I came to the final combination of banana, with fresh lemon and cloves.
The recipe is quite simple, I will write it down in short.
Ingredients:
50 grams self raising flour
50 grams melted butter
50 grams casted sugar
1 egg
Dash of salt
Zest of one lemon
1 vanilla bean
250ml milk
3 egg yolks
125 grams casted sugar
8 sheets gelatin (16 grams)
250ml whipped cream
3 ripe bananas
Juice of two lemons
1 teaspoon grounded cinnamon
1 teaspoon grounded cloves
Dash of salt
Make cake dough by mixing the egg with the sugar airy and mix in the melted butter and flour. At last stir in the lemon zest and salt. Pour the dough in a buttered spring cake tin and bake for 15 minutes at 175 degrees Celcius. After cooling down cut the cake loose and put it upside down in the spring cake tin. (Just because of the esthetics, so that the bottom of the pie will also look smooth.)
Bring the milk with the split vanilla bean to cook, take it of the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Well the gelatin in cold water. Mix the egg yolks airy with the sugar and mix in the (still hot) milk without the vanilla bean. Heat the mixture au bain marie to 90% degrees while constantly stirring. Beat the cream till it is as strong as thick yoghurt and stir it in the egg-milk mixture. Make a purree of the bananas and lemon juice and add it to the mixture. At last add the spices.
Pour the mixture into the cake spring tin and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
Verdict:
At first glance the cloves tasted too strong. But the freshness of the lemon and the softness of the cinnamon flattened this penetrating taste and became in harmony with the cloves.
Only the first bite of the pie was of strange taste, the latter bits were amazing, the cloves struggled to be the strongest tasting component, but the cream and milk kind of covered your tasting buds a bit such that the combination of all the flavors got to its best extend.
The pictures got quite yellow because of the yellow-toned light in my parents kitchen.
Dutch keywords: banaan, kruidnagel, bavarois, smaakcombinatie
