Banoffee Pie

INGREDIENTS

395g can sweetened condensed milk
75g butter, chopped
½ cup (110g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 large bananas (460g), sliced thinly
300ml thickened cream, whipped

pastry
1½ cups (225g) plain flour
1 tablespoon icing sugar
140g cold butter, chopped
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold water

METHOD

Process flour, sugar and butter until crumbly; add egg yolk and water, process until ingredients come together. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate 30 minutes.

Grease 24cm-round loose-based fluted flan tin. Roll dough between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line tin. Ease dough into tin; press into base and side. Trim edge; prick base all over with fork. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C

Place tin on oven tray; cover dough with baking paper, fill with dried beans or rice. Bake 10 minutes; remove paper and beans carefully from pie shell. Bake a further 10 minutes; cool.

Meanwhile, combine condensed milk, butter, sugar and syrup in medium saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring, about 10 minutes or until mixture is caramel-coloured. Stand 5 minutes; pour into pie shell, cool.

Top caramel with banana; top with whipped cream.

Hornado de chancho

All Recipes taken from laylita's recipes

Hornado de chancho (Roast Pork)

Ingredients:

20 pound whole pork leg (for about 40 people)

Juice of 3 limes

40 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons of ground cumin

3 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of ground pepper

8 cups of beer for marinating and 6 cups of beer for baking

12 ounces of butter (3 sticks)

2 tablespoons of ground achiote or annatto seed

Optional: 8-10 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut in half

Preparation:

Make sure the pork leg is clean and place it in a large non-reactive roasting pan (make sure it will fit in the fridge as well as the oven).

Prepare the “aliño” by mixing the crushed garlic, ground cumin, salt and pepper.

Drizzle the lime juice all over the pork leg.

Make several deep incisions on both sides of pork leg and begin stuffing the incisions with the “aliño”, also rub the “aliño” all over the meat. Let rest for 24 hours in the fridge.

Pour the 8 cups of beer over the pork leg and let it marinade for another 48 hours, turning the leg every 6-8 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C), let the pork leg bake for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, in a small saucepan, melt a stick of butter on low heat, stir in the 1 tablespoon of the ground achiote and mix well.

Lower the oven temperature to 350F and pour the melted butter mix on the pork leg.

To keep the pork leg from drying out you will need to “bañar” or bathe the pork leg using a soup ladle with the pan sauces about every 20 minutes.

When the pan sauces start to dry up, melt the remaining 2 butter sticks on low heat, mix in the remaining 6 cups of beer and 1 tablespoon of ground achiote and pour over the pork leg. Make sure the mix is hot to keep the pork skin from cracking.

Turn the pork leg over after about 3 hours of cooking and lower the temperature to 325F. Continue bathing every 20 minutes.

After 3 hours, turn the leg back over, some of the skin might have begun to peel off due to being directly in the sauce, try to place the skin back in place and bake for the last 2 hours. Add the potatoes at this point if you want to bake the potatoes with the pig leg, they will absorb the yummy sauces and be delicious.

Total roasting time should be about 8 hours for a 20 pound pork leg, internal temperature should be 160.

For a quicker version

Agrio sauce (Tomato and onion salsa)

Agrio is a tangy sauce made especially to accompany traditional pork dishes, especially hornado or roasted pork.

Ingredients

½ tomato, finely diced

½ shallot, finely sliced

2 tbs finely chopped green onions

1 red aji (I used a Fresno pepper – but you can use any hot pepper or a small bell pepper if you

don’t want it spicy), seeded and sliced

1 cup bitter orange juice or replace with 1 cup orange juice + juice of 2 limes

1 tbs finely chopped cilantro and parsley

½ tbs white wine vinegar

1 tsp grated panela or brown sugar

1 tbs light olive oil or sunflower oil

Salt to taste

Instructions

Place all the ingredients in a bowl, mix well and let rest for at least an hour before serving

Aji criollo ( Chilli Sauce)

Ingredients:

4 ajies or hot peppers

½ bunch of cilantro (stems and leaves)

½ cup of water

3 garlic cloves

Juice from ½ lime or lemon

3 tbs finely chopped white onion (scallions can also be used)

Salt

Preparation:

Combine the hot peppers, cilantro, water, garlic cloves and lime juice in the blender and blend well.

Add the chopped white onions and salt to taste.

LLapingachos (Potato cakes)

Ingredients:
4 pounds white potatoes

1 onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons achiote oil
1 egg yolk

1 cup shredded white cheese (queso fresco, farmer's cheese, or mozzarella
4 green onions, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Peel the potatoes and add them to a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook until tender when pierced with a fork. While the potatoes are cooking, sauté the onion in the achiote oil until soft. Set aside to cool. Whip the boiled potatoes in a standing mixer to mashed them, or run them through a ricer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (If using paprika instead of achiote oil, mix the paprika in with the mashed potatoes).  Mix the cooked onions and the egg yolk in with potatoes.Chill potato mixture for at least two hours, or overnight. Mix the grated cheese with the minced green onions. Shape the mashed potato mixture into balls slightly larger than a golf ball. Make a large hole with your finger in the middle, and press about a tablespoon of the cheese mixture into the hole. Close the mashed potato mixture over the cheese center, and then gently pat the ball into a pancake about a half inch thick. Chill the pancakes for 30 minutes. Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet. Fry the pancakes in batches, about 3 minutes on each side. Keep pancakes warm in a 200- degree oven until ready to serve. 

Baked Dolce Polenta

2  cups milk

1 cup of polenta
Juice and zest of one orange

2 teaspoons of mixed spice

1½ cups (375ml) single (pouring) cream

60g butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 ⅔ cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar

 3 egg yolks

Place the milk, cream, butter, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until hot but not boiling. Whisk the polenta into the hot milk mixture. Add the egg yolks and stir, allowing to simmer, for 6 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and pour into a greased baking dish. Bake at 180c for 20 -30 minutes until just set. Serve warm with cream.

Chocolate Chess Pie

Recipe adapted from Adventures in Cooking

Pie Filling

2 Eggs, beaten

200 ml of Evaporated Milk

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup Butter, melted

2 Tablespoons Corn Meal

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Pie Crust

1 2/3 Cups Flour

1/3 cup of cocoa

1 Cup Butter, very cold

6-8 Tablespoons of Ice Water

2 Teaspoons Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then begin making the crust. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut the butter into pea-sized pieces over the bowl, or pulse together using a food processor. Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon rather than your hand to help keep the dough cool, until fairly well mixed (it's okay if there's still some small blobs of butter). Grab a handful of the dry crumbly dough mixture and squeeze. If it holds together you don't need to add any more water.  Cover dough with cling wrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes.  Roll the dough out until it is about 1 centimetre thick, then place it over a well-greased and lightly floured 8-inch pie dish. Trim the edges.  Cover crust with baking paper and fill with weights or rice. Bake for 20 minutes until just firm. Remove and set aside.

To make the filling, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornmeal, and cocoa powder. Add the eggs and mix until fully incorporated. Then mix in the evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla extract until completely combined.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Mince Pies

Filling

360g (2 cups) dried mixed fruit

200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

50g (1/3 cup) slivered almonds, finely chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, quartered, cored, coarsely grated

40g butter, melted

2 tbs brandy

3 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 egg, lightly whisked

White sugar, to dust

Pastry

300g (2 cups) plain flour

70g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

160g chilled butter, chopped

1 egg yolk

2 tbs iced water

Finely chop half the mixed fruit. Place in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, almond, apple, butter, brandy, lemon rind, lemon juice, cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg and the remaining mixed fruit. Stir until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight, stirring occasionally, to macerate. Transfer the fruit mixture to a fine sieve over a bowl and stir to remove excess liquid. 

To make the pastry, place the flour, sugar and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and water, and process until the mixture just starts to come together (see tip 1). Turn onto a clean work surface. Shape into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to rest.

 Preheat oven to 180°C. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 5mm thick. Use an 8.5cm-diameter round pastry cutter to cut 20 discs from the pastry. Use a 5cm-diameter star-shaped pastry cutter to cut 20 stars from the remaining pastry. Line twenty 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with pastry discs (see tip 2).Divide the fruit mince among the pastry cases. Top with pastry stars. Brush the stars lightly with the egg and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden. Set aside in the pans for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with brandy custard or creme 

Tiramisu Slice

For the vanilla pastry cream:

1 tablespoon/8gms all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

1/4 cup/55gms sugar

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth. Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Sponge cake

1/3 cup (50g) cornflour

1/3 cup (50g) plain flour

1/3 cup (50g) self-rising flour

4 x 60g eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar

Grease 2 x deep, 20cm round cake tins (or different tins, as directed in individual recipes) and line bases with baking paper. Sift flours and 1/4 tsp. salt together three times to aerate. Preheat oven to 180C. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed for 6 minutes or until mixture is thick, pale and tripled in volume. Gradually sift flour mixture over egg mixture while simultaneously folding in with a large metal spoon until just combined. Divide mixture between prepared tins. To level batter, gently spin tins on kitchen counter. Bake for 20 minutes (or as directed in individual recipes), or until cakes have shrunk away from the sides slightly and spring back when gently touched. Turn out on to baking paper-lined wire racks. Carefully peel away baking paper, then leave to cool.

To create

500g Mascarpone

1 cup of cold brewed coffee or coffee liquor

Mix pastry cream together with 500g Mascarpone and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Cut sponge into three, place one layer of sponge in a deep dish and sprinkle with cold brewed coffee or coffee liquor. Spoon on one third of the crème mix and repeat with remaining layers, ending with crème. Cover and allow to sit in the fridge for 4 hours.  Dust with cocoa powder and slice.