happy thanksgiving!

I made our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. The menu was ginger glazed ham (Nigella's Christmas), potatoes boulangeres with sage, honey roasted carrots with dill, braised red cabbage with maple and ginger, ginger squash with collards and sausage, and this pumpkin pie. My sister-in-law made a fall salad complete with greens, raisins, apples, beets - yummy. So we were all stuffed at the end of dinner. And I have a fridge full of left-overs. Including a sliver of pie. Excuse me.....

I made the pumpkin pie last week, a trial run so to speak for the market's pumpkin pie contest. Based on yesterday's pie, I don't think I baked it long enough so it was a bit gooey.

Pumpkin Pie (based on this recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

1 butter pastry crust (I used this one from Sassy Radish but added 1 tsp vanilla to the double recipe)

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup plus 1 to 4 Tbsp ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt and pulse in a food processor. Blend in butter by pulsing until most of mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over mixture and pulse until incorporated. If a dough doesn't form, keep adding water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing each time, until a dough starts to form. Gather the dough together, divide in half and form 2 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough on parchment paper to make 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang all around pie plate. Ease the dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Trim the overhang. Refrigerate about 15 minutes.

Remove pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil and fill with pie weights or pennies.

Bake on rimmed baking sheet 15 minutes. Remove the weights and bake 5 to 10 more minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp.

Filling:

1 1/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup 2% milk

3 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small can pumpkin puree (~445 ML)

1 cup mashed roasted yam

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon table salt

Make the filling: While pie shell is baking, whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks and vanilla together in medium bowl. Combine pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth and well-incorporated. Scrap into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, 5 to 7 minutes. Continue to simmer until thick and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Whisk in cream mixture slowly, until fully incorporated and transfer to warm pre-baked pie shell. Return pie plate with baking sheet to oven and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Continue baking until edges are set and a bit puffy and the center of the pie jiggles slightly - 25 to 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature, 2 to 3 hours. Serve, or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

I baked the one yesterday for longer (40 minutes) and it wasn't gooey and it was delicious.