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Squash Pie
Yellow, hard-shelled squash makes pies that taste almost identical to pumpkin pies, and it is often easier to obtain. Stew, steam or bake the squash about an hour, scoop it out of shell and make sure the squash is as dry as possible, free from watery look. 1 1/2 cups cooked squash 2/3 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon each salt and cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 2 eggs 2 cups milk 2 tablespoons butter Put the squash through a sieve, add rest of ingredients in order given, beating eggs slightly. Line a deep large pie pan with paste (made 1/3 fat to flour) and pour filling into it. Bake in hot oven (450 degrees) for 10 minutes, then at 325 degrees until custard is baked properly. Try it with knife blade inserted, done when knife comes out clean. Serve with topping of sweetened whipped cream, sprinkled with finely chopped nut meats.
A straightforward custard pie that behaves exactly like pumpkin. The variables worth controlling are the moisture in the squash and the point at which you pull the pie from the oven.
- The hinge: dry squashWinter squash holds far more water than canned pumpkin, and a wet purée gives a weeping, loose custard. After cooking, spread the flesh in a wide pan and let it steam off over low heat, or drain it in a sieve, until it mounds on a spoon rather than slumping.
- Which squash"Yellow, hard-shelled squash" means any dense winter type — butternut, Hubbard, kabocha, buttercup. Allow roughly 1 1/2 lb of raw squash for the 1 1/2 cups of cooked flesh needed. Baking tends to give drier, sweeter flesh than steaming.
- The saltA full teaspoon of salt is high by current taste for a single pie. Half a teaspoon is the usual modern proportion, three-quarters if you want the spices to read sharply against the sugar.
- The pastry ratio"1/3 fat to flour" is most likely by weight: for a deep 9-inch shell, about 6 oz flour to 2 oz fat, plus a little salt and ice water. Either way it is a lean, firm crust rather than a rich one, which is what a wet custard filling needs.
- Oven and panThe two-stage bake is sound — 450F for 10 minutes sets the pastry, then 325F cooks the custard gently. Use a metal or glass pan on a preheated baking sheet on a low rack; a cold sheet or a high rack is the usual cause of a pale, damp bottom crust.
- DonenessThe knife test is reliable only if you insert it an inch from the centre, not dead centre. Better still, pull the pie when the outer two inches are set and the middle still shivers, or at 170 to 175F on an instant-read thermometer; carryover finishes it. A clean knife at the centre usually means the custard has already gone slightly grainy. Expect around an hour at 325F for this quantity — start testing at 45 minutes.
- VolumeTwo cups of milk plus the squash makes a generous quantity of filling — this needs a genuinely deep 9- or 10-inch shell. Any surplus can be baked in a ramekin alongside as a crustless custard.
- Yield and servingEight slices. Cool completely before cutting, or the custard will not have firmed; the whipped cream and chopped nuts go on at the table, not before.