Pumpkin Pie

It's almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and pumpkins have been available for a little while now. Time to start thinking about making pumpkin pie! First, a few words about the pumpkins themselves. There are several different kinds of pumpkins available on the market. Most are Jack pumpkins, which are ideal for carving, but are very bland when it comes to eating. The first pumpkin pie I made, shown above, was made with Jack pumpkin (although it was advertised as a 'pie pumpkin') - see below:

The next one, I used kuri squash for - a red squash, very good for soups and, it turns out, 'pumpkin' pies:

This resulted in:

For my Thanksgiving pie, I am going to use a Cheese Pumpkin. These are supposedly very good for pumpkin pie:

Anyway, whatever kind of pumpkin you end up using, the process is pretty much the same. First, you half and deseed the pumpkin and bake it until the flesh is soft. You puree the flesh and set it aside. Next, make pastry for the crust and pre-bake it (blind). Lastly, you make the filling with the puree, fill the pastry shell and bake until set. The following recipe is adapted from 'The Art of Simple Food' by Alice Waters. It makes one 9 inch pie.


Pumpkin Puree
Cut your pumpkin in half with a heavy knife and scoop out the seeds (save, clean and roast for a snack if desired). Put both halves cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F until tender (a butter knife slides into the flesh easily). Allow to cool, then scoop the flesh out, leaving the skin behind. If you have a food mill, put the flesh through to puree it; otherwise you can mash it with a potato masher or fork.
You will need 15 oz of your puree for one 9 inch pie. A small pumpkin should yield about that much, but a big one may result in a lot more. The cheese pumpkin above will probably be enough for 3 pies! Extra puree could be used to make pumpkin ravioli, soup, pumpkin bread, pancakes etc.


Pastry
(9 oz flour, 8 oz cold butter, 1 egg, cold water)
Follow the instructions here, allowing for the fact that you will have at least twice as much dough as you need. You can stop at 'Now put the pan in the refrigerator while you make the filling.' This will leave you with half the dough in the refrigerator, wrapped, a pie shell in a pie pan, also in the refrigerator, and some dough scraps that you cut away from the pan. Combine the scraps with the wrapped dough, press pretty flat, wrap again, tightly, and either freeze or keep in the refrigerator to use for another tart or pie. Let the pie shell rest in the fridge for a total of 1 hour, then remove, prick the base of the shell with a fork, line with foil, cover with pie weights (I use uncooked dried beans, reserved for this use) and bake for 15 minutes at 375 F. Remove foil and weights and bake another 5 or so minutes until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool while you make the filling.


Filling
In a small saucepan, whisk 1/4 cup cream and 2 tsp flour together and boil until they thicken. Whisk in another 3/4 cup cream and boil again. Allow to cool a little. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together 15 oz pumpkin puree (see above), 3 eggs, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (a mix of ground spices - usually cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice or clove), a pinch of salt and a glug of maple syrup. Lastly, whisk in the cream mixture.


Finishing
Pour the filling into your shell. Bake at 375 F for about 45 minutes - until the center of the filling is almost set. Cool on a rack, then cut and serve with whipped cream (I flavored mine with nutmeg and a little powdered sugar). Enjoy!


Note 1 - If you do not want to use fresh pumpkin, you could substitute canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling - it should only contain pumpkin). Use the same amount. It should work OK.


Note 2 - Metric Info: 350 F = 175 C; 15 oz = 425g; 9 inches = 23 cm; 9 oz = 255g; 8 oz = 225g; 375 F = 190 C; 1/4 cup = 60 ml; 3/4 cup = 180 ml; 1/2 cup = 120 ml.