Recipe: Fedora's Creamy Banana Pudding With Pistachio Crumble The Restaurant Takeaway column is devoted to restaurant dishes you can make in your own kitchen, tested and tweaked for home cooks. This banana pudding is not your usual vanilla-wafer-topped affair, and it doesn't come from the South. Instead, a friend found the smooth, elegant dessert at Fedora restaurant in the West Village and couldn't wait to tell me about it. One bite, and I knew why. Composed of a rich, creamy custard fragrant with puréed ripe banana, it's served with lightly salted, crisp crumbles of pistachio butter cookie and an amber caramel sauce. It is irresistible - sweet, creamy, salty, crunchy - and all too easy to lap up. In this adaptation, I simplified the method and knocked off the caramel sauce (though if you wanted to make that too, here's a video demonstrating how). You can make the pudding and crumble entirely in advance (up to three days), though don't sprinkle the crumbs over the top until you're ready to serve. You want to maintain the crunch for as long as possible, and once the cookie meets the pudding, the countdown begins. Title: Banana Pudding With Pistachio Crumble Yield: 6 servings Time: 1 hour, plus 3 hours' chilling Author: Adapted from Fedora, New York 4 large very ripe (lightly speckled) bananas, peeled 3 cups whole milk 1 cup heavy cream 300 grams sugar (about 1 1/2 cups) 60 grams cornstarch (about 1/2 cup) 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped 4 grams kosher salt (about 1 teaspoon) 6 large egg yolks 15 tablespoons unsalted butter 70 grams pistachios (about 1/2 cup) 155 grams all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups) Using an immersion or standard blender, purée bananas until very smooth. Set aside. In a medium pot set over medium heat, combine milk, cream, 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar, cornstarch, vanilla bean and seeds, and 2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) salt, and cook, whisking, until liquid comes to a simmer and begins to thicken. Take the pot off the heat and whisk in banana purée, egg yolks and 3 tablespoons butter. Return pot to the heat and bring the mixture back to a simmer, whisking constantly. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Transfer the pudding to a bowl set in a larger bowl filled with ice water and whisk for 5 or until the pudding is cool to touch. Discard vanilla bean, divide the pudding in serving bowls, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Meanwhile, prepare the crumble. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the remaining 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter and set aside to cool. In a food processor, pulse the pistachios a few times until roughly chopped. Add the flour, remaining 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar, and remaining 2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) salt, and pulse until the ingredients are just combined. Add the melted butter and pulse a few times until the mixture forms pea-sized crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to the prepared baking sheet. Bake until crumble starts to brown at the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and using a flat spatula, flip the crumble over, piece by piece, so that the browned side is now on the bottom. The pieces will break apart; this is O.K. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crumble is golden-brown and very crisp. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely before breaking apart into crumbs. Serve crumble sprinkled over the banana pudding. Source: Adapted from Fedora, New York