flaky spicy pumpkin pie

Even after moving away from USA, we still feel compelled to at least bake a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Outside of North America, there really isn't a market for canned pumpkins. So, in the past few years, we've mail ordered pumpkin puree from the US of A about a month in advance of Thanksgiving. To save on shipping weigh, we switched to cartoned (tetrapak) pumpkin puree from Farmer's Market a year ago. We can vouch that there is little difference in quality. What's more, it's organic & the packaging is BPA-free :) 

As in years past, I turned to the recipe on the canned/cartoned pumpkin, in addition to consulting the internet for dairy-free substitutes. To be absolutely honest, I didn't like pumpkin pie: I generally don't mind consuming a piece once every season but I would never volunteer for second helpings.  But this year, for the first time, I could actually say I like it! And we (including myself) have been gradually chipping away at the pie, dreading the moment when it completely disappears. The difference, as far as I can pinpoint boils down to (1) the flaky crust which I made with my almost-5 y.o. son and (2) the extra gingery filling... 

There was one other difference, which may or may not have contributed to the flavour, but is definitely a faux pas in baking... In my inattentive haste to substitute condensed  milk with rice milk, I had forgotten to add any sugar to the pie filling until ~15 mins into the baking o_0  As we had ordered only one carton of pumpkin puree and not wanting to spoil my (American) hubby's Thanksgiving, I took the pie out of the oven (which was luckily still wobbly/runny) and very carefully stirred in ~1/3c of sugar, then chucked it back into the oven.  To my surprise, it worked!! Although the middle of the pie was notably sweeter than the filling closer to the crust (because the edge had already partially set when I pulled it out to add the sugar), it was not awkwardly so.  Oh, how I love baking adventures :) 

So, here is the recipe I used: 

For the pie crust, I used the recipe from my trusty baking book: the 2000 edition of "The Essential Baking Cookbook" published by Murdoch Books. I will not duplicate the recipe here, only to say that we were very careful to use cold butter and to rub the butter into the flour with our little hands and fingertips. It was hard work, but I think it made a difference. I do point out here that we use Lurpak unsalted block butter, which could very well have made a difference too... 

Because it was to be used for a moist pie, we blind baked the pie crust, without any baking beads, for ~20mins.  The pie did raise a bit. I pierced the air bubble immediately after removal from the oven to let the steam out; this allow pie filling to flow under the bubble. 

For the filling, I mostly followed the recipe on the pumpkin carton, but made modifications.  

Ingredients

1 (16oz) carton Farmer’s Market organic pumpkin

1.5 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup rice milk 

2 tsp corn flour

2 eggs, well beaten

1/3 cup refined sugar*

1 9” blind baked pie crust

* Yes, this was the sugar that I added a quarter of an hour into baking.  It was also suggested to me that I could have tried molasses rather than refined sugar because "that's how my grandma had always used". 

Direction

Mix all ingredients (except the sugar) together. Pour into previously blind baked pie shell. Bake at 220ºC (425ºF) for 15 minutes. Pull out of the oven to add sugar, then reduce temperature to 180ºC (350ºF) for an additional 50-60 minutes. Don't worry if it is not completely set as it will set more as it cools (wisdom from a Yank). 

Silverbeet & Bacon Tart

Kale is the family favourite. So when it dawned on us that kale's positioning on the Brassica branch may be the cause of our little one's GI issues, I was at a lost. What other green vegetables are there?  More specifically, what green vegetables not of the Brassica family and are cookable (because raw greens are "yucky") are there?  Sadly, after scouting several Sydney grocery stores for several weeks, only two readily available non-Brassica vegetables were identified: silverbeet (also known as chard) and spinach. I personally love spinach, but it does occasionally cause "spinach tongue", which I'm pretty sure is why "spinach is yucky" as well.  

Left with silverbeets, I endeavoured on another attempt to change the family's opinion of this vegetable. Scouting of recipes gave me two ideas: (1) Silverbeet and feta gozleme and (2) silverbeet and bacon pie.  Bacon makes everything better :)  

For the crust, I consulted out my trusty baking book:  "The Essential Baking Cookbook" published by Murdoch Books. The only substitution was the replacement of 3/4 of the 1.25 cup plain four with wholemeal flour.

The filling was based on a much slimmed down ingredient list from Kidspot:
- 1 bunch silverbeet
- 1 packet middle bacon, rind removed
- 1/2 block Liddell lactose free cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup soy milk

I was pleasantly surprised by the result: that the little one actually liked it!  The points that won the family over were:
*  That it wasn't "eggy" (the use of 4 instead of 5 eggs likely helped)
*  The homemade buttery crust (from my experience, it's always much miles better than store-bought frozen ones)
*  And, of course, the bacon!

Silverbeet and Bacon Tart

blue hubbard quinoa & brown rice casserole

As usual, this dish was inspired by one of the items in our CSA box this week: blue hubbard squash (cucurbita maxima).  We didn't get an entire squash (thank goodness!); I think we got ~3-5lb (6-11kg) which is probably only 5%-10% of the total squash!!  Deborah, our CSA farmer, suggested several ways of preparing it; basically, you can substitute any pumpkin or squash recipe with the hubbard.  I'm not a casserole person by nature, but for some reason, I had a desire (not quite a craving) to have casserole.  Besides, it sounded like something that our little 1yo can eat as well =)

I took inspiration from the both Local Nourishment & Food Buzz. Here is my version:

Ingredients
~3-5lb squash (any winter squash or pumpkin would work)
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup brown rice
5 celery sticks (finely chopped)
6oz mozarrela cheese (grated)
sprinkles of dried basil
sprinkles of crushed dried rosemary
salt & pepper
~2oz cold butter
~1/2 - 3/4 cups course wheat flour (I thought that would provide better texture than white flour)

Steps
1.  Partially bake squash, whole, at 350F for ~35mins (This was so that I can cut into the darn thing!)
2.  While waiting for step (1), soak rice & quinoa in water for at least 15mins (For the quinoa, that's the recommendation I got from the internet.. I've never cooked quinoa before(!). For the rice, I know for a fact that pre-soaking gives a much fluffier texture; the secret to good congee).  Rinse. Bring ~2.5cups of water to boil.  Add rice & quinoa; stirring often to prevent sticking. Once the content reboils, turn down heat and simmer until only ~1tbp water remains. Shut off heat and leave lid on. This will allow the grains to absorb the rest of the liquid without burning. [Of course, if you prefer your rice to be more chewy, use less water and open lid straight after cooking.]
3.  Once squash is ready (out of the oven & cooled enough to handle), cut into small cubes (~0.5" or 1cm).  I did this my slicing around the skin as it was still pretty tough to cut through and I didn't want to destroy my knife. Place cubes in casserole dish.
4.  Add cooked rice & quinoa and finely diced celery to casserole dish. Sprinkle dish with dried herbs & season with S&P.  Toss well.
5.  Cover top with grated mozzarella. [You could also mix the cheese in with the rest of the stuff.] 
6.  Work the butter into the flour and crumb on top of the cheese.
7.  Bake at ~400F for ~30mins for until crumb is golden.  [You may have to play around with the temp and time.  I did as the suggested temp of 350F and suggested time of 15mins did not work for me.]

Here is a photo of the final product:

The verdict?
My opinion: I thought it was good.  The quinoa was really flavorful. The squash was sweet. The celery was soft.. too soft?  Some parts of the crumble dried up a bit.. I wonder if I should have added more butter or a dash of milk?
His opinion:  It's  simple.  Healthy.  I like it.  [I take that to mean he likes it but is not excited by it; not like a bacon club sandwich ;-) ]
Bubby's opinion:  He didn't spit it out (phew!)  In fact, I was happy to have it for lunch for the next few days.  I call that success =D