Banana Cream Pie: Version Simple

Jeff's roommate is a health conscious kind of guy. He goes to the gym, he rides his bike to work, he drinks protein shakes, and he eats a -lot- of eggs. Except he mostly eats the egg whites. He'll make six eggs, but use 1 egg yolk and throw the rest away.
That's a perfectly good waste of egg yolks, I told him. Save some in the freezer for me to make pie out of, and custards, and creme brulee, I said. And that's just what he did. I found myself with 5 egg yolks and about 300 frozen bananas sitting and waiting for me in Jeff's freezer.

Andrew, the roommate, was making Hungarian Goulash for us for dinner (I sadly didn't get pictures). A stew made of potatoes, pork (this time), parsnips, carrots, peppers, and paprika, it's got a spicy flavour that really needs to be toned down with bread. Which we had. Jeff thought a banana cream pie would go excellent afterwards, and so I whipped out my banana cream pie recipe from last year's super bowl, made some changes, and tried at it.

But I didn't want to do a simple banana cream pie anymore. So I've decided with all the egg yolks Andrew is saving me, and the bananas in Jeff's freezer, I'm going to try my hand at this version: my simple, easy to make banana cream pie, and more of a gourmet version with more blending and vanilla -beans- (or paste) and all sorts of other things.

I want to note though that I don't think banana cream pie is good enough when it's vanilla + bananas. I want my custard to have banana flavour, so I add banana to it. This is great when you have a strainer to mush out the chunky parts and strings, but I didn't, so our banana cream pie came out a bit too moist and too lumpy. But it was still probably the tastiest thing ever. Next time I have to either cook it longer or change ingredients.

Of course, this banana cream pie still isn't simple. I'm not using instant pudding mix. Why should I? Making a custard in this method isn't hard, I don't double boil it, and I've never had a problem with the eggs curdling. It just takes a little patience, and time-- normally I don't have either, but with cooking I have both.

Banana Cream Pie: Simple

5 egg yolks
3/8 cup sugar
¼ cup corn starch
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups milk
3 frozen bananas, mashed
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 banana, sliced
1 prepared pie crust

Beat the egg yolks, 3/8 cup sugar, and corn starch in a small bowl until creamy in colour and well mixed.
In a small saucepan, heat the milk, salt, 3/4 cup sugar, and mashed bananas. Bring to a slow boil, stirring often. Low heat to a simmer, and take about 1/4 cup of liquid at a time and mix it into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk the hot liquid in, 1/4 cup at a time to equal about a 1 cup, until the egg yolk mixture is fully incorporated. Mix the egg yolk mixture into the rest of the hot liquid in the pan, and stir frequently while simmering, until thickened.
Remove from heat and allow to cool momentarily. This would be the time to strain the pudding if you have a strainer.
Pour about half the pudding into prepared pie crust. Top with sliced bananas, and alternate until all pudding is used, finishing with the pudding. Chill for at least four hours, though the longer the better. Topped with whipped cream and serve.