I'm on San Juan Island this weekend, visiting my aunt. She has a huge, amazing garden with about a million squash, more apples than you'd ever know what to do with, and three fabulous pumpkins. One thing leading to another, I ended up commissioned to make two pies. Hours later and I am so full of pie that all I can do is lie here and type.
A note about pie crust: Above all, you want to handle this stuff as little as possible. Otherwise, it gets tough and chewy and generally gross. You don't want that. You want it to stay as close to room temperature or cooler as possible, so just use the tips of your fingers to incorporate the butter if you can. Also, the less water you use, the better.
Ingredients:
For the crust
Just over 1c flour (I use all-purpose unbleached here, but whole wheat pastry flour is great, too.)
1 stick of butter, room temp but not too soft
1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
ice water
For the filling
A smallish pumpkin. get a baking pumpkin, or be cheap and easy like me and grab a carving pumpkin off a porch somewhere.
1c sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp grated or powdered ginger
a pinch of cloves
1 heaping tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
1/3c chopped pecans
Make the crust!
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes the size of your thumb and toss them in. Using your fingertips, incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients as quickly as you can without becoming a total disaster. You want the end product to be something like coarse cornmeal or rolled oats.
When it gets there, form it into a ball and set aside.
If it's going to be awhile until your filling is ready, I suggest wrapping it in Saran and sticking it in the fridge.
If it's too dry, dip your fingers in ice water and sprinkle them over the mixture, scattering droplets over the dough. Too much water makes the crust tough. You want to use just enough to make it hold together.
Set the oven to 350˚F and allow to preheat.
Pre-bake the crust for around 20 minutes, or until it is just solid, but not browned.
Butcher yourself a pumpkin, aawh yeah!
If you've ever carved a jack-o-lantern, this will not be a challenge.
Place a steamer basket in a really big pot and fill water to just under the basket. The less water touching the pumpkin the better, since the flesh is already soggy enough without your help.
Instead of carving a hole in the top, I suggest simply cutting the whole thing in half top to bottom, then trim off the stem. This makes the whole scraping out the guts process a lot easier.
Speaking of which. Once you have your halves, scrape out the guts. Reserve the seeds if you want them.
Chop it into workable chunks, maybe 4"x4" on average, and place them in the steamer basket in the pot.
Cover and set the heat to High, until the flesh is soft and a knife blade sinks in easily.
Let it cool. Seriously. If you like your skin at all, you want to do this.
When it's cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut the skin off the pumpkin chunks. It'll be wet, so either squeeze it out in cheese cloth or set it somewhere to drain for awhile.
Using a food processor, puree the chunks til essentially liquefied.
Make the filling!
Mix 1 and 1/2 cups of the pumpkin puree with the other filling ingredients until smooth and well incorporated. Pour it into the crust sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top of the pie. Bake at 350˚ for around 50 minutes or so, until the center just barely jiggles when gently shaken.
Allow to cool until set.
