real banana pudding

I spotted this recipe in one of my cookbooks months ago and knew I wanted to make it someday.  Of course I totally forgot about it for another few months.  But for some reason it came to the surface on Wednesday when I felt like making something in the kitchen.  We had just enough ripe bananas and thankfully the exact amount of cornstarch left.

If you've never made homemade pudding before, trust me, it is easy and so much better than the boxed kind. This would make a great March Break treat to make with the kids.  Cutting up bananas, stirring the pudding on the stove, all perfect tasks for little hands.

Real Banana Pudding - adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
makes 4-6 servings (I doubled the recipe)
2 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Put 2 cups of the milk, the sugar and the salt into a medium saucepan over medium low heat.  Cook just until it begins to steam.  Take off the heat and stir in the bananas.  Let this mixture steep for 20 minutes.  Strain out the bananas.  (You can snack on these bananas or discard them.)

Combine the cornstarch and the remaining half cup of milk in a bowl and stir well.  There should be no lumps. Add the cornstarch mixture to the warm milk and cook on medium low heat until the mixture thickens.  Stir frequently. As the mixture thickens, you will need to stir constantly to prevent any milk burning on the bottom of the pot.  When the mixture just starts to boil, reduce the heat to very low and continue stirring for another few minutes.  Take off the heat, add the butter and vanilla.  Stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into a large dish or 4 to 6 small ramekins of bowls.  To prevent a skin from forming on the top of the pudding, place plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding.  Refrigerate until chilled and serve within a day.