Loving Fall.....

Dear friends....I am so sorry it has been so long since my last blog. Things have been pretty hectic for me...as most of you know I am almost five months pregnant. Time really does fly.... I have to say I have never loved fall as much as I am loving it this year. This is the perfect weather for being pregnant and of course all the wonderful colors and food.

I have never been a very big fan of Halloween, I love it for the kids and seeing them in their costumes but I am not one for dressing up. I do however love to carve pumpkins. This year we made some pretty creative ones.

I have always loved pumpkin....pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ravioli and pumpkin pie!!!

I decided to have some friends over for pumpkin carving, homemade pumpkin ravioli and homemade pumpkin pie. I have made pumpkin pie before but never from real pumpkin so off we went to the pumpkin patch....my husband got a little crazy and wanted lots of pumpkins

I asked the owner of the pumpkin patch (who grows all of the pumpkins himself) for a sugar pumpkin (it is hard to tell the difference)

• When roasting your own pumpkin for puree you want to use a pie pumpkin or sugar pumpkin (if you use a regular one it will be very watery)

He picked out a perfect one and off we went!!!

I looked through dozens of cookbooks and online for the perfect pumpkin pie recipe. Surprisingly almost every recipe I found calls for canned pumpkin puree, not that I don't love that as well but I really wanted to make it from fresh roasted pumpkin.

I finally found the perfect recipe and I am sharing it with you. It is a lot more work (a pregnant lady on her feet all day in the kitchen, wow was I tired) but it was so worth it and I will never use canned pumpkin again.

The evening was a huge success and I look forward to doing it again next Halloween!!!

• Depending on the size of the pumpkin it might take much longer to roast, cutting it into smaller pieces will cut done the cooking time
• You can freeze your left over puree in freezer bags, I would pre-measure them into two cup portions

Have fun and enjoy.........

Jamielyn xoxo

Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

My friend Suzanne performed an experiment with her family and me. She baked two pumpkin pies, one using the purée and recipe from a can, the other using purée she made from a ripe sugar pumpkin. Each of us received two slices, one from each pie, without knowing which was which. The winner? The adults clearly preferred the pie made from scratch - it had a richer flavor (possibly due in part to added spices). One child preferred the pie made from the canned purée, the other two had no preference. Needless to say, everyone finished both of their slices, and the whipped cream too!

Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin* or from canned pumpkin purée
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 good crust (see pâte brisée recipe)

* To make pumpkin purée from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft. Scoop out the pulp from the skin. Or you can bake whole or halved in a 350°F oven until fork tender. Optional - put pulp through a food mill or chinois to make extra smooth.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 425°F.

2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.

3 Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.

Serve with whipped cream. Serves 8.

All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies (Pâte Brisée)

This recipe makes 1 pâte brisée crust, enough for one tart. If you are making a pie with a bottom and top crust, double this recipe and form two discs of dough instead of one.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
• 2 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold

METHOD

1 Start by cutting the sticks of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and placing in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (preferably longer) so that they become thoroughly chilled.

Dough is ready to shape into discs.

2 In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar, pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.

3 Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface. Carefully shape into a discs. Do not over-knead the dough! You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These bits of butter are what will allow the result crust to be flaky. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

4 Remove the crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, use a metal spatula to check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Gently fold in half. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.