Blog Archives

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Date Crust

11/22/2017

Super easY Way TO start with the WHOLE PUMPKIN for Pie

It’s a crisp October day, I’m walking down the road to Colinwood Farm where they have pumpkins I’ve eyed for a week. I meet up with a friend and her young step-daughter, both eager to pick out a pumpkin so they can bake a pie. We choose our perfect pumpkins weighing them on a hanging scale and paying on the honor system.
We’ve been taught to open a can of pumpkin if we want to bake a pie, but it’s time to update that habit so we won’t miss an enjoyable seasonal tradition.
Red Dog Farm, the first tent on the right entered the Uptown Farmer’s Market, had nine varieties of winter squash last Saturday. Their names inviting serious consideration: Acorn, Black Futsu, Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Hubbard, Keri, Baby Pam Pumpkins and Spaghetti. I bought
a 2.5 lb Baby Pam Pumpkin from Alice for $3.75 and headed home to slow cook it. Our local winter squash have such outstanding flavors. I like to mix and match squashes in a pie, or feature one I’ve never tried.
I have the world’s laziest way to process winter squash. I stab it a couple of times, like you would a baked potato, add 3 cups of water in the bottom of a large oval slow cooker, put the whole pumpkin in and set the cooker on high for 4 hours. When it’s done it’ll be soft enough to slice open, scoop out the seeds, peel off the skin and puree the flesh. That’s it. You can use the puree right away or freeze it for pies, breads or soup for winter.
And remember, don’t throw out those seeds, guts or skin! Put them right back in the slow cooker, add a quart a water, maybe some ginger slices and set on low for 10 hours. You’ll have some incredible stock to use for soup.

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Date Crust

Featuring an easy delicious press in crust. Delicious and Easy
Pecan Date Crust
1 ½cup/200g pitted deglet dates
1 ½cup/170g pecans
¼ cup/30g ground flaxseeds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
2 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Pie Filling
1 1/2 cups/400g pumpkin puree (from 2 ½lb pumpkin)
1 ¼ cups 10 fl oz/300 ml unsweetened canned coconut milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon powdered white stevia
(or 1/2 cup/50g brown sugar without stevia)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice berries
1/4 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 whole clove
1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste
3 large eggs

Instructions
Pierce a 2.5 to 3 lb pie pumpkin several times, like for baking a potato
and roast in a large oval slow cooker on high for 4 hrs with
three cups water. The skin will be soft and easily cut open when done.

Spice Mix
Grinding fresh whole spices is fast and well worth the effort!
Grind whole spices together in a coffee or spice grinder
with cinnamon, sugar, salt and stevia
Grate fresh nutmeg add to spice mix
Sift spice mix through fine mesh strainer and set aside

Liquids
Measure coconut milk and eggs into a bowl add ginger paste refrigerate until ready to use

Crust
Measure ingredients into food processor run machine until a sticky mass forms
Press dough evenly into bottom and sides of a removable bottom
tart pan or a regular pie plate
Chill crust until ready to blind bake

Baking the Pie
When whole pumpkin is soft remove from slow cooker, and cool enough to handle. Slice it open scooping out the seeds and reserve them to roast or for use in stock. Scoop out flesh for pie and reserve leftover peel
for stock.
Measure out pumpkin and puree with coconut egg mixture and spices.
Preheat oven to 425F /220C
Blind bake chilled crust for 10 minutes (put pie plate on a baking sheet)
Reduce heat to 350F/180C and pour filling into hot crust
Put foil guard around edge of crust to keep from getting brown
Bake for 45 minutes or until set
Cool to further set
EnJOY!

Two Carrot Pies One Savory & One Sweet

11/20/2017

Both are delicious, but completely different from each other. Together they make a unique carrot pie supper

I’d bought a bag of local Nash’s Farm carrots. They were big, like they’d had a good summer underground. I wondered why I’ve never heard of anyone making carrot pies? We make carrot cake. My son wanted a sweet pie, but we needed to put lunch on the table.
I always like to play while cooking, so I made a sweet and savory version and they were both hits.
Using my Vitamix to get the carrots absolutely smooth was key.
I didn’t even bother to peel them and they were still velvety.
I appreciated not having to run them through a food mill to get the right consistency, and it was a breakthrough using the flavorful carrot boiling water for the custard liquid instead of milk.
It worked wonderfully.
The seasoning for the savory was inspired by the preserved lemons put up last winter. The sweet, by my love for carrots with anise and orange . The sweet version was the guy's favorite but they ate them both in one sitting. The crust: my new and improved gluten free--loving it.

Perserved Lemon Carrot Pie

Ingredients
1 ½ cups pureed carrots
3 large eggs
½ cup carrot water leftover from boiling carrots
¼ cup preserved lemon
2 teaspoons toasted cumin
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon black mustard seed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions
Toast cumin, grind and sift. Add to preserved lemon and puree until smooth with olive oil. Heat butter and cook mustard seeds on a medium until they pop. Add all ingredients except mustard seeds to a blender and blend until absolutely smooth. Add mustard seeds and butter.
Blend briefly. Put into a partially blind baked 9-inch crust, still hot. Bake at 350F/176C for 40 minutes or until set.

Sweet Carrot Pie with Anise and Orange

Ingredients
1 ½ cups pureed carrots
3 large eggs
¼ cup brown sugar
⅛ teaspoon stevia powder
½ cup carrot water leftover from boiling carrots
1 tablespoon anise seed
2 teaspoons coriander seed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons good quality orange extract or
1 tablespoon orange zest

Instructions
Grind anise and coriander together and sift
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until absolutely smooth
Put into a partially blind baked 9-inch crust, still hot.
Bake at 350F/176C for 40 minutes or until set