November 2009

I made my first foray into pie this week.  I LOVE pumpkin, which is why this time of year is my favorite.  I can take or leave the holidays, but I LOVE pumpkin.  I wish it were available all year round.

So I bravely decided to try pumpkin pie out of fresh pumpkin – a feat I had been told to avoid because fresh pumpkin pie can be stringy and dense and weird.  But I couldn’t resist.  After I made my pumpkin oatmeal bread with a real pumpkin, I decided it couldn’t be too hard.

I was kind of wrong.  Pumpkin pie (at least the recipe I used) isn’t hard, persay, but it is time-consuming.

First I used the pie crust recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.  I highly recommend this book.  Very simple food- but very detailed instructions about how to cook it the best possible way.

So to start, I cooked the whole pumpkin.  Just stuck the whole thing on the oven rack for an hour at 350ºF.  After that I sliced it open, scooped out the seeds, then scooped out the flesh and put it in the food processor.  I processed it for about 10 minutes total- occasionally turning it off and scraping down the sides.  I think this is the key to making it smooth and not stringy!

Next I started the crust.  Just butter, flour, and water basically.  Mixed it up, formed balls, and put them in the fridge.  Then I took them out and Puppers jumped on the table and ate one.  Good thing I only had enough pumpkin for one pie.

Next I rolled it,

Put it in the pan, forked the bottom,

Filled it with beans

And blind baked it

In the meantime I mixed up the pumpkin with eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, and spices, and when the crust was done I poured it in.  The filling recipe was from Betty Crocker.

Bake for about an hour, and yay pumpkin pie!

By the time the pie was done baking, the sun had gone down and the lighting was bad .

See Puppers hiding behind the trash can?

She’s so cute!

It was SO GOOD.  Definitely try it.