Seldom seen but still much revered in the Antipodes is that North American autumnal tradition, pumpkin pie.
Actually it’s absence Downunder is a shame, because spiced pumpkin custard in a crisp pastry shell is one of the worlds great comfort foods. I think I first made a pumpkin pie when I was in my teens, thanks to Betty Crockers great cookbook (and standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom relating to la cuisine américane). And despite really quite liking it, I didn’t make another for 20 something years.
And then I decided to throw a Halloween party for my work colleagues, and one piped up with “Can there be pumpkin pie?”.
And I thought: yes. Yes there can.
So I made wee pumpkin tarts with whipped cream “eyeballs” with vahlrona chocolate “pupils”. And they were swooped upon. (The other things were salted chocolate ganache tarts).
Which led me to think perhaps I should post about pumpkin pie.
Probably the most miraculous thing about pumpkin pie (apart from the taste and the fact that you are eating vegetables) is how healthful it is (at least when compared with say lemon meringue pie). The pumpkin mixture is an innocent combo of mashed pumpkin, eggs and milk, with a modest component of brown sugar. I would go so far as to say that here is a pie you could almost justify eating for breakfast. Plus its full of orange coloured bioflavonoid (beta carotene) so you will live longer (and see in the dark).
It’s also ridiculously easy to make. You can use a blender.
Pumpkin Pie
makes one 20cm pie (the filling will fill about 20 6cm tartlets, but make 1.5 times the pastry and use muffin pans for your tartlet moulds)
Spiced short pastry
ingredients
100g butter, softened
1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
Combine all ingredients with a mixing spoon until you get a smooth dough.
Gather the dough into a ball, flatten and wrap with cling wrap and chill until completely cold – at least 45 minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let soften slightly. Roll out between two sheets of baking paper until you have a round big enough to cover the base and sides of a 20cm tart tin.
Press the dough into the tin gently – don’t worry if you get cracks, just mend them with your fingers! Refrigerate while you make the pumpkin filling.
Pumpkin filling
ingredients
1 cup cooked pumpkin (I used butternut)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each of ground ginger and nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
mixing
For a super dooper smooth filling, put the pumpkin, milk, spices and salt in a blender and blend until very smooth, then add the eggs and blend until combined.
… the blender way…
Otherwise, mash the pumpkin well and whisk all the ingredients together. I prefer the blender method because there can be a few fibres in the pumpkin which mashing won’t get rid of.
… the whisking way …
Fill the pastry case with the pumpkin filling.
Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes or until the centre is just jiggly. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly. Let the pie cool in the oven (this will help ensure that the custard does not form cracks). By the way, pour any leftover filling into a ramekin and bake that too – crustless pumpkin pie treat!
Decorate with rosettes of whipped cream if desired (one for each slice of pie… it looks very American Diner and quite darling – I just didn’t happen to have any in the house that day!).
There it is, just baked. The house smells amazing and one can start to comprehend why Americans want to pumpkin spice everything (though I had a pumpkin spice latte in Venice Beach last year (for research) and it was truly truly horrendous. I’m ok with putting spices in my coffee, it was the pumpkin flavoured coffee part that I couldn’t deal with!).
Even if you don’t live in the USA and have never heard of Thanksgiving, you should make pumpkin pie soon and be thankful that you read this post.
Enjoy!xxx
