November Pumpkin, Part 5: Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie

My pumpkin pie recipe (oddly, like many of my recipes) came together by accident. I was trying to follow a simple recipe for pumpkin pie, but I misread and messed up the spices, I dumped in a can of sweetened milk instead of evaporated milk...but the pie was a hit. Give it a try with your fresh pumpkin in your favorite pie crust.

The INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs
2 cups of pumpkin mush
3/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

The Pumpkin Pie FILLING:

Beat your eggs in a stand mixer. Beat in the pumpkin, sugar, spices and sweetened milk. Pour the mixture into a standard, 9-inch unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Bake for another 50 minutes. (You may need to use foil or a pie crust shield around the edges towards the end, I did.)


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November Pumpkin, Part 4: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

The INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of brown sugar
6 tablespoons of COLD unsalted butter
1 cup of finely chopped pecans
1 8 ounce block of cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of pumpkin mush
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves

The CRUST:

In a food processor, pulse together the flour and brown sugar to combine, then cut in the butter. Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the pecans. Pull out 3/4 cup of the mixture to use as a crumble top later and press the rest into a well-greased 8" or 9" square baking dish. Bake the crust at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then remove, set aside and cool.




The Pumpkin Cheesecake LAYER:

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin and eggs, followed by the vanilla and spices. Pour the mixture over the crust and sprinkle the reserved crumble over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.



Let the bars chill overnight in the refrigerator.

November Pumpkin, Part 3: Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce



PUMPKIN PROSCIUTTO FILLING:

2 cups of pumpkin mush
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4-pound of prosciutto (chopped in small pieces)
fresh sage
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup of fresh grated parmesan
1/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
salt and pepper

1. Over medium-high heat, warm the pumpkin mush and butter.

2. Stir in the prosciutto and 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh sage. Cook for a few minutes as you keep stirring.

3. Reduce the heat to low and add the heavy cream and parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir until the filling is reduced to about half of the original amount.

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the ricotta cheese and nutmeg. Set the mixture aside to cool.

5. When cool, you can use the filling in your favorite pasta or use wonton wrappers. We used square wonton wrappers and folded them into triangles, sealing the edges with water. To cook, drop the raviolis into boiling water and cook for just a few minutes until they float.


BROWN BUTTER SAGE SAUCE:

For the sauce, I used a recipe by my friend Mario.

Butter and Sage Sauce
by Mario Batali:

* 4 tablespoons butter
* 8 sage leaves
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

While your pasta cooks, melt butter in a 12 to 14-inch saute pan and continue cooking until golden brown color ("noisette") appears in the thinnest liquid of the butter. Add sage leaves and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and set aside. Drain the pasta, but leaving some cooking water, and gently pour into saute pan and return to heat. Add the cheese, toss to coat and serve immediately.


** I didn't use the lemon (because I forgot to buy it) and I used regular parmesan cheese.

November Pumpkin, Part 2: Pumpkin Mush

Now we're going to start cooking with the pumpkin, and first we have to make the pumpkin mush. With all of the seeds and stringy insides scooped out, slice the pumpkin into small (6 to 8 inch) sections. Rub the insides with melted butter and place the pumpkin pieces face down (skin side up) on baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour. Lots of juices will run out - and since I didn't put anything under my baking sheet, I got to clean out my oven the next day.

When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and place the pieces in a food processor. A few pulses will turn it to mush. Depending on how liquidy the mush is, you may want to cook some of the water out of it until it has a thicker consistency. Store your pumpkin mush in an airtight container in the refrigerator and freeze any that you don't use within a week.





The mess factor is pretty high here, so I didn't take many pictures during the process. I found a great blog though that has awesome pictures and detailed instructions on cleaning and prepping your pumpkin. I didn't use water and they didn't use butter. If you're gonna skip one, it's gotta be the water.

November Pumpkin, Part 1: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Our pumpkin didn't achieve Jack O' Lantern status this year. It sat outside, all alone, for over a week after Halloween. Finally, I decided to bring it inside and see what all I could make with it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds



1. First, scoop out all of the seeds from the inside of your pumpkin. Thoroughly rinse the all of the slimy, stringy stuff off of the seeds (I used a colander). Set the seeds on paper towels to dry. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

Note: I ended up with about 1 1/3 cups of seeds. You may want to adjust the following amounts depending on how many seeds you get.

2. Toss the seeds in 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 1 tablespoon of Obie Cue's Double Strength Garlic Pepper, 2 tablespoons of Smoking Guns rub, 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Stir until the seeds are evenly coated.

3. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

The seeds are crunchy, salty and bring the heat with the use of the Smoking Guns rub. If you don't have the Smoking Guns and/or Obie Cue's, substitute your favorite barbecue rub and garlic powder or garlic salt.