Pumpkin Head

by Sally

Not to get all Martha on you or anything, but I recently made a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. This was thanks to my oldest child, who asked repeatedly until I realized, why not?

The good news is, it tastes delicious. Lighter and fresher than regular pumpkin pie. Other good news is that I feel virtuous for having made it, and yet more good news: it's from a vegetable so it must be health food. The not-so-good news: it's more work than canned pumpkin. Big surprise there.

So, in case you should ever have a desire to do this yourself, here are the gory details.

First, get a pie pumpkin. I got mine at trader joe's. They are cute.

Lip balm is here to show scale. Pie pumpkins are smallish.

Next, set your frozen pie crust on the counter to thaw (not very Martha). If you plan ahead, you can thaw it in the fridge overnight and then on the counter. It needs to be room temp. Or you can be an overachiever and make your own, it's not hard, just one more thing to do. Either way, get your crust prepped (do not bake it in advance, it bakes with the pie).

Pie crust also courtesy of Trader Joe's.

Wash the outside of the pumpkin and cut in half. Scoop out the seeds and gunky stuff (this was the hardest part, and anyone helping you will probably quit to go watch Mary Poppins, or at least that's what happened at my house).

In half. Don't mess with the stem part. You can save the seeds to roast, if you're into that kind of thing.

Clean as a whistle.

When your pumpkin is clean, cook it in the microwave. I put mine in a large glass dish with about an inch of water and covered with saran wrap. Microwave on high for 12 min, then keep cooking, but poke it with a fork every 2 minutes until it is soft all the way through to the peel.

The peel will stay hard and should be easy to pull off. Let your pumpkin cool before you try this or you'll have some burned fingers. Use that cooling time to turn the oven on to 425 F, drink a diet coke, and put your pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan. Don't forget to make the edges pretty!

The pumpkin after cooking, with the skin peeling off.

Scoop out (or peel away) the soft pumpkin into a mixing bowl. If you have a hand blender, use it to puree the pumpkin until it is totally smooth. This took about 2-3 minutes for me. You could also use a regular blender, a cuisinart or even a hand mixer. It should be very smooth (like baby food) after blending. Don't add any water to help puree it. After it's pureed, let it sit for 5 minutes and pour off any water that may be sitting on top (there may not be any).

You now have homemade pumpkin glop that qualifies your pie as health food! (If you are planning to bake this pie on a busy day, I suggest that you do all of work up to this point in advance of the day you want to bake the pie, and refrigerate the glop.)

Add to the mixing bowl the following ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1.5 teaspoon ground ginger
(or, if you have pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice, just add 3.5 teaspoons)
one half teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
3 cups pumpkin glop (I actually only had 2.5 cups)
1 can (12oz ) of evaporated milk

I like how the little spice container looks like an open beak. "Give me some pie"! I'm crazy.

Mix well using a hand blender or mixer. It will be very runny and you may be thinking "this is not going to work". It will. Pour into your pie crust until about 1/2 inch from the top of the crust. You are ready to bake! If you have lots of leftover pie filling (I did) you can either make little tartlets using pie crust and a muffin tin, or just grease a baking dish of a size that the extra filling will fill to a depth of about 2 inches. Bake this with the pie for a "crustless" pumpkin pie. For your kids.

Bake at 425 F for the first 15 minutes, then at 350 F for another 45-60 minutes. Your house will smell good. Children and husbands will come out of the woodwork. You can test it's doneness by inserting a regular table knife into the center. It should come out with a few little goobers on it, but not coated with pie filling.

That gash is my knife mark. Maybe I was a little too assertive.

Let your beautiful masterpiece of a pie cool. Chase away children and husbands who want to eat it prematurely.

It is good with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain. This pie is perfectly acceptable to eat at any meal, including breakfast. It has vegetable and protein in it. It's health food! Enjoy!