Sunday, February 25, 2007

Waiter, There's Something in My... Pie

Pumpkin in a pie? How novel! But wait, this isn't a sweet pie with pumpkin puree (which is fairly impossible to find here anyway), but a savory one with parmesan, onions and cheddar. And the pumpkin is coarsely grated and steamed. In fact, my pumpkin was grated, steamed and frozen several months ago (you seasonal produce people can just bite me), making today's cooking operation a breeze.

Pumpkin Pie

This has been one of my favorite uses for pumpkin (closely followed by a bean-ham-pumpkin soup I haven't made in far too long - now I'm wondering if I still have pumpkin puree in the freezer) ever since I found the recipe a few years ago. I waffled a bit between this and the Tamale Pie for my Waiter, there's something in my...-entry (check out the roundup here), but seriously, parmesan + cheddar + whole wheat pastry beats cheddar + cornbread any day in this household.

Pumpkin Pie

If you can't find fresh pumpkin this time of year, I'm sure this would be wonderful with any kind of winter squash. Or even with just extra onions - I dare anyone to find fault with the cheese-onion-cheese combination. Especially in a shell made wonderfully nutty by whole wheat flour. (You can feel all virtuous about the pumpkin and the whole wheat. And gluttonous about the cheese. And the butter. Best of both worlds!)

Pumpkin Pie


Two-Cheese Pumpkin Pie
from Glorian ruoka & viini 6/2005

mmm, cheesefor the pastry:
450 ml (scant 2 cups) whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
70 g (2½ oz) butter
150 ml (5 oz) cold water

for the filling:
500 g (1 generous pound) fresh pumpkin, coarsely grated
2 large onions
½-1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
100 g (3½ oz) parmesan, grated
100 g (3½ oz) cheddar, grated

a bit more butter
one egg, lightly beaten

pumpkin! and onions!Mix the salt in the flour. Work the (cubed) butter into the flour with a fork, then the cold water. Divide the dough in two and form flat disks. Wrap in clingfilm and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Steam the pumpkin until softened, about 3 minutes. Soften the onions in the oil. Mix with the pumpkin, season with salt and pepper, and leave to cool a bit.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough to about 30 cm (12") in diameter. Transfer one of them to a (greased, floured) springform pan, about 23 cm (9") in diameter. (Or, you know, adjust sizes to fit your pan.)

coveredBrush with some melted butter, sprinkle the grated parmesan, then the onion-pumpkin mixture, and finally the grated cheddar. Top with the other pastry disk and crimp the edges together. Brush with the egg.

Bake at 180-200°C (375° F) for about 40-50 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden color. Once you take it out of the oven, brush with some more butter (OMG yes I know. Feel free to skip.)

Pumpkin Pie

Served with a simple green salad on the side, this is fabulous both warm and cold.

10 comments:

Alanna Kellogg said...

Love the stars!

Freya said...

This is the most beautiful pumpkin pie I have ever seen - made even more startling by being savoury!

Jeanne said...

If that isn't the most tempting thing I've seen all day, I don't know what is. I had a savoury pumpkin pie (well, more of a quiche) in Paris this summer and have been meaning to find a similar recipe for the longest time - I think this could be it! And I love your pre-emptive strike on the seasonal produce sticklers - LOL!! Thanks for a fab contribution to WTSIM and home to see you again next month.

Cerebrum said...

Mmmm, cheeeeeese!:-)

Monkey Wrangler said...

deinin, you are most certainly keeping me interested with your use of the squash. The pie looks fantastic. And the pictures do it justice fo' shure. It is somewhat comforting to hear that in Finland folks don't go for sweet pumpkin pie. I'm sure that for the majority of it's history as a foodstuff, it is in the savory form that it has been around the longest.

And speaking of local meat, I hear that reindeer heart is fantastic stuff. Got any recipes?

Mia said...

Alanna - heh! I always roll my doughs way too big and feel like a chump throwing them away. I have some mini cookie cutters that I got from my grandmother and so the star pie was born. (It could also have been a heart pie or a fir tree pie.)

Freya - sweet pumpkin pies aren't an established thing here (beyond people knowing of them from Thanksgiving specials on TV and the like), so I've never had to convince anyone to try it.

Jeanne - thanks! I was going to continue with how if you tried living on local, seasonal produce in this country, at this point of the season you'd HAVE to bite me. But the argument didn't really work since we do get (mostly) Finnish meat. Anything else, though...

Zarah Maria - yesssss. Can't go wrong with cheese. Even less if there's two kinds.

D-man - we don't really do pumpkin at all, sadly. It's really hard to find except in September-October or so, and even then it's those huge horrible ones. I just try to pick the smallest ones and pray for something edible. Or for a green-thumbed acquaintance.

Monkey Wrangler said...

Hey there deinin, have you heard of this game yet? Well, consider yourself tagged, hope you can play along!

Cindy said...

Winter is a-coming in the southern hemisphere and this pie is on my to-do list!

buy kamagra said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe of this Pumpkin Pie! I want to make it at home by myself as soon as I have time.It is delicious.

www.cuenca-3d.com said...

I saw really much worthwhile data above!