Coconut Custard Pie

Before I get into a weird food confession, you should check out this article about 14 important nutrient-dense foods. While I’m not doing the paleo/primal thing, I do enjoy whole foods and that whole bang-for-your-buck thing [blame the accountant in me]. I could definitely stand to increase just about everything on that list. Except the pastured eggs. I’ve got that on lock lately, slowly trading them for the usual smoothie kick.

Alright, confession time — you know those Hungry Man TV dinners? I ate them as a kid because I never had a kid sized appetite. Hungry man was totally accurate. I can could eat and eat and eat and eat [I did eat a footlong meatball sandwich with a good 10-12 meatballs last Friday…for lunch]. The Mexican Style Fiesta version was my absolute favorite. More specifically, I really liked that weird coconut pudding stuff that came with it. It was kind of like the consistency of tapioca, but a ton of coconut. It would always be warm because you cooked everything else, and it was comforting in the way custardy things are. Could you pay me to eat one now? Sure I shudder at the ingredients list…

Jennie’s custard pie kind of took me back to that magical place as a child, but in a much more real food kind of way. I would have been quite content to eat the filling, but raw eggs and all that. I took the lazy way out with the pie crust, opting to buy one in the holiday rush instead of making my own. Why do they always sell them in packs of two? That’s what I want to know. Now one sits in the freezer, laughing at me every time I get in there to get some herbs [I freeze fresh herbs because I never use them fast enough]. If you are a coconut fiend like I am, you’ll love this. Mixing custard and coconut makes me happy in a totally child-like way. I ate a slice as Christmas. I ate three slices over the course of a day or two standing at my kitchen sink, staring out the window at whatever craziness was going on at the gas station.

Oh, and grate your own nutmeg. I hadn’t ever tried this before, but I don’t think I can go back to the dried stuff in a jar.

Inspiration: In Jennie’s Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust for a 9″ pie pan
• 4 large eggs
• 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• freshly grated nutmeg 
  
• 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 450F and roll the pie crust out of if necessary so you can fit it in your pie pan.

Add the eggs to a mixing bowl, and beat them. Add the both milks [trying not to bathe in the sweetened condensed], vanilla extract, and nutmeg. Whisk on medium high until well mixed. Stir in the coconut. Pour the filling into the prepared pie pan.

Bake for 10 minutes, before reducing the oven temperature to 325F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes; the filling should be set and the pie crust nice and browned.

Place the pie on a wire rack and let cool before serving. I covered it and stored it in the fridge until the next day, and reheated pieces as I felt like eating them.