Month o' Pies, Week 4 (part 1): "Pumpkin" Pie

This December has been difficult.

Aside from it being my first Christmas away from my hometown (home state, even), I unexpectedly lost a very good friend, who was quite close to my heart, to cancer. Most people that know me know that the most important part of my life is my cats. It's true, of course. Tom had been with me for 17 years, since he was a kitten and I was only eight. I miss him terribly. It's been almost two weeks and I'm definitely still reeling.

Forgive me for skipping a few weeks of pie baking and blogging, but sometimes other parts of life take priority, you know?

As they say, however... the show must go on. How can it not?


I actually made two pies last week, within two days of each other, right before Christmas. I'm more or less back on schedule, as long as I make my final pie tomorrow.

This pie is pumpkin. "Pumpkin," rather. It's actually made from another type of winter squash called "kabocha." Kabocha squash comes in different colors and varieties; the one I used is one of the more common ones, simply named "green kabocha." I used to find several varieties at the University District farmer's market in Seattle, but this one I found at a Scottsdale Whole Foods.



It's a little sweeter, drier, and more flavorful than a sugar pumpkin (the kind used for most pumpkin pies). This is my second year making it, and I think it turns out rather well. I only take issue with the top cracking. It's not necessarily unattractive, and certainly doesn't make it taste bad, but it is a little alarming. I can't help but picture tiny piewalkers skipping merrily along the top of the pie and falling to their deaths in the fault lines. Ah, well.


"PUMPKIN" PIE

credit goes mostly Cook's Illustrated for the pie filling and whipped cream recipes
1 kabocha squash

1. Start by preheating the oven to 350°F. Wash and cut your squash in half, whichever way allows the halves to be the flattest. I cut mine along the equator. Scoop out the seeds. Place the squash halves in one large glass dish (or two smaller ones, depending on how they fit) with a half-inch to an inch of water.

2. Bake for 90 minutes, until the whole thing is soft. It should look soft, smell like sweet squash, and be sort of glistening all over. Let it cool completely (remove from water as soon as you can).



When it's cool, scoop out the flesh (you can eat the skin, too, but it's not as effective in the pie).

Crust
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp shortening
3 tbsp butter
3-4 tbsp ice water

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Make the crust as in the previous pie (only, it's a single crust instead of a double). That is; mix together the dry ingredients, mix in the shortening until it's finely crumbly, and cut in the butter until it's coarsely crumbly. Then quickly fold in the ice water until you can make it come together in a ball. Since it's a single-crust pie, don't split it in half.

2. Roll out the dough ball on a floured surface to a 12-inch circle (flouring it more if it starts to stick). Transfer it carefully to a 9-inch pie dish (folding in quarters works), trim, patch, and tuck under the overhanging edge, and flute prettily.

3. I tried something new this time in an attempt to make crust-prebaking more successful. Since my crusts tend to shrink, I decided instead of just using pie weights on foil, I'd also put a second pie plate inside the crust, to hold the sides so they couldn't shrink.



If you have something that fits a little better, you can try that. Anyway, bake the crust like that for 25 minutes, remove all the foil and weights and second plate, and bake another 5.

The crust didn't shrink, but the pressure on the sides from the other plate resulted in strange little indentations from the foil.



Oh well.

Filling
2 cups baked kabocha squash flesh (18 oz if you're weighing it)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup cream
2/3 cup whole milk
4 eggs

1. While the crust is baking, make this. It should take roughly the same amount of time as the crust takes. If you have a food processor, use it to puree the squash with the sugar, spices, and salt. Puree it until it looks even and not at all stringy (kabocha is not a very stringy squash, so this shouldn't be too much of an issue).



2. Chuck this mixture into a saucepan and heat it up over medium heat until it starts to get mad. When it's starting to get quite hot, start stirring it to prevent the bottom from scorching. It should look dark like chocolate.



(When it's really hot, and spitting a bit, and shiny, the crust should be just about ready to come out. Take the crust out of the oven, put the oven rack on the bottom, and turn the oven up to 400°F. Set the prebaked crust on top of the oven (but not on a burner) to keep it warm.)

3. Keep stirring the squash and add the cream and milk. Whisk them in until it's well mixed, and bring it up to a simmer. It should be more pumpkin-pie colored at this point. When it's reached a simmer, take it off the heat.



4. Don't worry about cleaning the food processor, just toss in the eggs (well, not in the shells) and whir them up until they're foamy and mixed. Just a few seconds, really. Keep it running and start cautiously pouring the squash mixture through the feed chute.



(By the way, I don't know if a blender works quite right for this recipe, but if you don't have a food processor, it doesn't hurt to try one).

Once you have about half of it through the tube (with the machine running), turn off the machine and dump the rest of the squash in. Run the processor 30 seconds, or until everything's all mixed together.



5. Hopefully your pie shell is still warm. Pour the filling (as much as will fit, anyway) into the crust. If you have leftover, save it (put it in a pourable measuring cup, even) and add it in a few minutes.



6. Bake the pie on the bottom oven rack for 5 minutes - you can now add the rest of your filling if necessary - and continue baking for 20 more minutes or so. When you take the pie out of the oven, the center should be slightly wiggly (but not super wiggly) if you gently move the pie plate around. I think mine was a teeny bit underdone (could have taken 5 more minutes, maybe), but every pie is different.

Put it on a wire rack. It should be all puffy and delightful.



After it cools at least an hour - preferably more - the top will have settled. It will have gotten quite shiny, and may have developed cracks. I don't know how to avoid that, but it's not really a big deal, anyway.

Whipped Cream
1 1/3 cups chilled cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brandy

1. Mix the cream and sugar in a bowl.

Beat it until it starts getting voluminous, then add the brandy. Beat it just a tad more until it holds its shape. I overbeat it slightly, completely by accident, but it didn't turn to butter so it's not too horrible.

Really, it will turn into butter quite quickly, so be careful.

Serve a piece with a spoonful of whipped cream, and you'll find you have an extremely delightful slice of pie.

So, my little Tom, I know you would enjoy stealing some of this pie while it cools. Just as you have enjoyed stealing sweet potato pie, and apple pie, in years past. It makes me sad to know I can leave it out on the counter now and never find sections of crust inexplicably missing, but wherever you are - I bet they have tons of pie.