Key essentials for the home cook and shopper:
One of the things I really love about Fall is the new crop of winter squash and pumpkins.
And not just for their beautiful colors, but also for the flavors they bring to soups, side dishes, and especially pies. Usually I bake a Sugar Pie pumpkin, but this year I made a pie using a Queensland Blue squash. In other parts of the world the name ‘winter squash’ is interchangeable with ‘pumpkin’. That’s one of the many things I learned from Vicki Hertel, of Sun Gold Farm, when I went out to film this video. The Hertel’s grow over 25 varieties of winter squash and pumpkins, several of which I have purchased over the years at the farmers market.
Vicki knows her squash, and she was kind to share a lot of good information about how to cook one for a pie, how to store them for winter use, along with practical tips about their different textures and sweetness too. Watch the video and you’ll discover why winter squash and pumpkins are “almost a perfect food” too.
Below is Vicki’s favorite Fresh Pumpkin Pie recipe. A Sugar Pie pumpkin works great, but consider trying a different variety – maybe Long Island Cheese, Galeux d’Eysines, or a Queensland Blue like I did recently.
- 2 cups cooked pumpkin
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1-12 oz. can evaporated milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Wash pumpkin and remove stem.
- Cut in half and remove seeds.
- Place cut side down in baking dish filled with 1/8 in water.
- Bake in oven for about 1 hour or until soft to the touch. Cool. Scoop out flesh and puree.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices.
- Blend in beaten eggs and milk.
- Pour into unbaked pie shell.
- Bake 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes more (until knife inserted into center comes out clean).