Mombogombo Tart 1.0

""Looking for a recipe for a Mombogombo Tart""

....this  is how all this started.

A simple post by my friend Karen. However, she informed me there was "no such thing". She made it up . Strange. "Why don't we make one up?" I replied.

...and soo I became the co-conspirator for this mission. I accepted my role.

Karen has a wonderful blog http://postcardsfromthedinnertable.wordpress.com/. Very clever . Very original. Here she posts food related post cards and quips about something related to it. She challenged everyone to make their own Mombogombo Tart ....   It really can be anything. Your imagination can run free. Of course my imagination is limited too all things sweet. Plus, the tart must have some form of dairy in it. Karen is stuck on cows, but then she posts a postcard of a chimp..so now my confusion is compounded.

I started with the milk first. Pastry cream .. a given  The Chimp, made me think "Rain forest".  Rain forest  flavors? HMMMM... Unfortunately, I did not have have time to go to the farmers market for anything  exotic so I had  to use what was avail in my grocery. Bananas and coconut.

There are a few more exotic things in my grocer, but i find my family is not as daring as me. I can't stray to far from the morn. They will not eat it, and i hate to bake something and see it go to waste. 

Mombogombo Tart

Crust

1/2 cup crushed Nilla wafers

1/2 cup crushed coconut cookies

2 tablespoons toasted sweetened coconut 

1/4 cup toasted Brazil nuts- crushed.

melted butter

Blend all ingredients  with enough butter to have crumbs stick together when squeezed. Press into tart pan . Bake in oven at 350 for 7 mins .  

 Banana Pastry Cream

6 egg yolks

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups milk

1-2 Tablespoons Banana liqueur. ( or extract-this may be a smaller measurement)

Place the milk in a heavy bottomed sauce pan,

which can hold at least 3 cups of liquid.

Place on very low heat and allow the

milk to get hot, but not boil. Mix occasionally to

make sure the sugar is melted.

Meanwhile, separate the egg yolk and place in a

bowl, add the corn starch and the remaining sugar.

Whisk the egg mixture well.

Bring the milk back to a simmer over low heat.

Temper the eggs with milk, then pour the mixture

back into the sauce pan, and with a whisk

mix well over medium heat. The mixture will

thicken and appear lumpy, continue to mix well

over the heat for about three minutes or so, after it

has thickened. Pass the mixture through a fine

sieved strainer into a bowl. Add the banana

flavoring, mix well and cover with plastic wrap, so

the wrap touches the cream, as to avoid a crust

from developing. (The pastry cream can be

prepared up to two days before and kept in the

refrigerator).......BLAH BLAH BLAH

Cinnamon Caramelized Bananas

2 ripe Bananas . Peeled and sliced 1/4 inch and on a diagonal.

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoon Dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Melt Butter, and Sugar on low heat. Stir in cinnamon.  Add Banana slices in single layer. Cook@ 2-3 mins each side until soft. Cool in pan.  Remove from pan with slotted spatula.

Swiss Meringue by Zoë  http://zoebakes.com/?p=2718

1 cup egg whites

2 cup sugar

pinch salt

Whisk together the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Rest the bowl over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the sugar is off the sides of the bowl. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar is melted into the eggs and you no longer feel any graininess when rubbed between your fingers, about 3-5 minutes.

Place the bowl onto your mixer and whisk on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy and the bowl is just warmer than room temperature, about 8 minutes.

 Assembly 

Cooled Tart crust

Layer 1/2 of Banana Pastry cream in crust

Layer Cinnamon Bananas in single layer over cream

Layer remaining cream over bananas.

Make meringue and layer over top of tart. Torch as( Zoe does )or place in broiler for several minutes until dry and lightly brown

This tart is the 1.0 version.  I did not make several versions or "tweak" it to make it perfect . 

Things to remember-----

• Crust:  light and "flaky". Less coconut flavor more vanilla. I want a slight hint of it for the crust. I like the addition of the Brazil nuts.  They ground completely to the point they disappear. More nuts, less grind. They added a nice fattiness.
• Cream: less Banana flavor. Smoother in texture 
• Bananas: good Caramel, poor hint of cinnamon. 
• Meringue : Did not whip as stiff as I liked. But beautiful glossiness! ( ZOE is a goddess) 

Taste of this tart was like a tropical banana pudding. ( the nilla wafers I'm sure) Nothing say Rain Forest like Nabisco 'Nilla wafers!   It was very yummy. However, not as I wanted.  Definitely needed more cinnamon. I wanted that heat mixed with the banana flavor. Soo maybe a cinnamon meringue?  Bananas alone to me do not add that  banana flavor, they seem too bland ,   so that is why I added the Banana cream. I am still not sure if it needed something ...more?

All in all I  say I have a good start to something that I would be proud to call a Mombogombo Tart..

Karen, what do you think?..and any ideas from all would be welcome :)

..ps... forgot a slice of tart picture..now it is gone.