XDA

Semi-local blogger, Stephen Green, down in Colorado Springs, does a Friday Recipe at Vodkapundit, which is often just excellent. And he explains how to proceed so well. In tribute to him, here is a recipe I believe is good. Pumpkin pie.

This is designed to make two pies an inch deep or one pie about an inch and a half thick. There's less spilling with 2 pies.

In October, buy a medium to big Halloween pumpkin or three of the smaller pumpkins often called pie pumpkins. Just before you make the pies, buy two empty aluminum pie pans of around 9" diameter and two prepared pie crusts (Pillsbury has two in one package all rolled up--these are good). You should have the rest of the stuff in your kitchen.

[Purists can make pie crusts by hand but I can never taste any difference between hand made and store bought crusts, so why bother? Go to a purist cooking web site if you need a crust recipe. While the frozen pie crust already in disposable tins will do, its edges are too perfect and do not have the homemade look my method gives them. Remember, you're always baking for the eye as well.]

Cut the pumpkins soon after purchase into long sections that look like smiles and cut off the middle (seeds and fibers) and the rind (be careful about the rind, it's tougher than you think and dulls your knife blade as you go along). Then cut the sections into smaller pieces (it really doesn't matter how big). Boil the pieces in a big pot for about two hours, then plop them into a colander in the sink to drain for a minute or so and then into a big storage container and into the freezer. I'm not kidding about freezing them.

Or you could cut the raw pumpkins in half (don't bother to scoop out the seeds) put them face down on cookie sheets (with a little water if your cookie sheets have raised edges) and bake them for about an hour and a half at 400 degrees or more. Once they've cooled, scoop away the seeds and strands into the trash, then with a big spoon scoop out the mush down to the hard rind (but not including it) into a bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher, if those still exist. With baking you have the pumpkin mush right then but if you don't use it until Thanksgiving or Christmas, you risk having the October pumpkins rot during the wait. With boiling, you have to thaw for about a day to have the mush but the freezing separates out the water well so the mush is about the same density of pumpkin with either baking or with boiling and freezing.

The day you are to bake, put the pumpkin mush or boiled pieces in a cuisinart with the blade and chop it up to even finer mush (about a minute and a half).

[I know this pumpkin preparation is kind of a pain, but canned pumpkin, although easy, is not a good substitute and has a distinctive taste so that everyone knows you used store bought and they won't consider you a good cook. With boiling and freezing, you can make two pies for Thanksgiving and another two at Christmas without risk of rot.]

Then, in a small bowl, put:

1/8 teaspoon salt;

2/3 cups sugar;

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon (tough to have too much cinnamon);

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I grate little nutmegs on a microplane but preground is just about as good --don't use too much of this as its taste is pretty overpowering);

1/4 teaspoon cardamom; and,

1/2 teaspoon ginger.

Mix them up with a spoon or a fork.

Roll out the crusts into the empty pie tins and put them on separate cookie sheets. Let the unrolled crusts warm up for a half hour then push them down into the tins and make sure the edge is not regualr. Get your oven to 450 degrees and bake the empty crusts for about 3 minutes. Pull them out to cool and turn down the oven to 375 degrees.

In a big bowl, beat two large eggs some (20 seconds with a whip, 40 seconds with a fork) and pour in the sugar and spices and stir for 20 seconds. It should turn pretty dark. Add the cuisinarted cooked pumpkin mush (2 cups of it) and mix well. Add at least 1 and 1/2 cups milk (or half and half or straight cream if you want) to the mixture and stir until smooth (30 seconds tops). You can use up to two cups of milk etc., if you want, but the baking time will increase with the more milk, etc. in the filling.

Fill the empty, slightly baked crusts with the filling not quite to the top. Put the filled crusts still on the cookie sheets into the now 375 degree oven and bake for about an hour and a half (two hours or even longer if more milk is in). The pie is done when it doesn't jiggle at all when shaken and a knife blade to the center comes out clean.

Cool Whip goes well with this, as does real whipped cream.