pumpkins are not just for wasting on halloween

[sesley]

£1.50 is too much to carve a silly face in and put candles in,pumpkins make great pies and i am making one now because i want to know what it tastes like.so here is a recipe for you all to try .

Classic Pumkin pie


500g pack of shortcrust pastry
550g of pumpkins peeled and chopped
175g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs
142 mil pot of double cream
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp allspice
1tsp ground ginger
small grating of nutmeg


place pumpkin in a bowl,put in microwave and cover and cook for about 15 mins high power,until soft
drain in collander and allow to cool
while cooling roll out pastry to the thickness off a £1 coin to fit a pastry tin of 25cm
line with foil and baking beans and bake for 15 to 20 mins at 200c/fan180c/gas 6
then remove foil and beans and continue to bake for a further 10 mins

meanwhile place pumpkin,sugar,spices ,eggs and cream into food processor and blend until smooth,pour into pastry case and bake for 1 hour ,until filling has puffed up in the centre(it will sink as it cools) remove from tin and leave to cool, serve with whipped double cream with maple syrup and chopped up pecan nuts. then enjoy a slice with the cream

[trubble]

That sounds tempting, Sesley. How would I cook the pumpkin without a microwave, I wonder? Steam it???

[motorist]

I had pumpkin pie in Austria once, it was absolutely brilliant. They have loads of things made with pumpkin or that funny wiener meat, very tasty *slurp*

I plan to get some pumpkin to make pie with very soon

[sesley]

well if you haven't got a microwave,just cook it in a pan of water until softened so it can be mashed into a smooth pulp with the other ingredients, i don't have food porcessor so i mashed it with a masher,then used a mixer to make it smooth and then added the sugar and spices to it and mixed it all in with the cream enough so there is no hard lumpy bits.