Pumpkin Pie!

Hi all,

Looking at those CSA pumpkins and thinking about pie? I experimented a lot last season and here's where I landed.

To use real pumpkin in a "canned pumpkin" recipe--try the following.

Roast pumpkins as you would any hard squash.

PUREE the roasted pulp in a food processor or blender--and I mean really get it broken down to just wet pulpy mass. Pumpkins are more fibrous than I imagined and it took awhile to get a true puree, but it happened.

THEN--here's the key thing--DRAIN the puree for 24 hours in a colander lined with a clean linen towels or cheesecloths. If you've made yogurt cheese, this is the same kind of process, only a little wetter at the outset. You'll need to refrigerate during this time too, so make some space. I set my draining rigs (2) up in casserole dishes with the colanders seated in the dishes and the towels (folded multiple times) in the colanders. For the first couple hours, suction off any liquid from the casserole dishes using a bulb baster. We did that about every half hour. Then change the towels and let sit for another few hours (we let them go overnight). Rinse out the casserole dishes and change the towels again the morning--let them drain for the day. There probably won't be much accumulation, but it'll soak the towels.

What you'll be left with may be even a bit drier than canned pumpkin--and LOTS tastier. It made excellent pumpkin pie (using a standard "canned pumpkin" recipe) and pumpkin custard--which is just the leftover pie filling baked in custard cups, as I was too tired to create more crust.

As for Food World News, it's pretty local. We've reached the end of the CSA season here, so I'm signing off as guest blogger. Dan and Joanne may post now and again in the off-season, but the blog will be pretty quiet until the CSA starts up again in the spring.

Thanks for supporting local farmers!
Marta