Tag Archives: butternut squash

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01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by in Nut Pie, Pumpkin Pie

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Dear friends,

I have new stories to share. Stories about olive harvesting with toddlers and bison lard pie crusts. Stories about champagne grapes, Minnesota fall fruit bounties, family bonds (biological and otherwise), fake Instagram celebrity chefs, first birthday parties, National Park excursions. We’ll get there. For now, suffice it to say: I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving, and I’m eager to know what pies you ate this weekend. Please tell me in a comment on this post!

We just got back from visiting my parents in Georgia for Thanksgiving, and I am not ashamed or embarrassed to report that we ate at least one piece of pie per day for six days in a row (four pies to four adults and one baby, so, a pretty reasonable ratio). This time I didn’t knock out any new recipes from Pie (Ken Haedrich’s exhaustive cookbook, which I’m baking my way through; you can see my progress in the Pie Gallery). I chose instead to revisit a few old favorites.

Maple Pecan Pie: Maybe because my dad’s always been partial to a pecan pie, this is the third Georgia Thanksgiving that the Maple Pecan has made an appearance; I’ve also baked this one for my work team, to much approval.

Five-Spice Winter Squash Pie: Butternut squash available from the garden made this seasonally-appropriate pie an obvious choice. And a word about five-spice powder; seriously an underused and underrated ingredient, in my opinion. I just love the little licorice shout out (fennel and star anise are two of the five spices). I say that as someone who loves all things licorice, but for those of you on the other side of the licorice fence, fear not; the flavor doesn’t seem to be strong enough to chase away licorice haters (after all, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper round out the blend).

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That’s two, but I did mention a total of four pies earlier. My mom made an apple pie with an olive oil crust earlier in the week. We also enjoyed a pumpkin pie (pictured above) made with a recipe from my great-Aunt Sally, who we recently said goodbye to. The traditional apple and pumpkin pies alongside the slightly more jazzy pies mentioned above made for a very well-rounded line-up.

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Happy holiday season to all, and don’t forget to share what kinds of pie made your Thanksgiving lineup in the comments! Talk to you soon.

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Eat Your Squash

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Pumpkin Pie

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For the last two years, Levi and I have belonged to a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) program. Each week that we’re home we pick up a box of locally-grown produce and try to figure out how to consume it all. Some of the vegetables we get leave us scratching our heads. Celeriac? Romanesco? Kohlrabi?! They look like aliens. In the fall and winter, we don’t often get typical pie fruits like apples or pears. At least in summer the berries are plentiful, and I’ve been known to make pies out of such unlikely vegetables as carrots and parsnips!

Every now and then I will get something in our CSA box that’s perfect for a pie. Butternut Squash, for example. The nice thing about squash as opposed to pumpkin in a pie is that the flesh is a bit firmer and denser. Pumpkin can be slightly watery (especially if you aren’t using a specifically pie-oriented variety.)

Five-Spice Winter Squash Pie obviously contained enough Chinese Five-Spice powder to taste; interestingly, so did two other pies I made this fall (Five-Spice Pear-Apple Pie and Green Tomato-Cranberry Pie). It’s an unlikely ingredient that works well, and I foresee adding it to other types of pie in the future.

This may be the first (and last) time I’ve ever copy/pasted something directly from Wikipedia on my blog, but here is the actual breakdown of typical Five-Spice powder. Just in case you are super nerdy like me and wanted to do some research on the various components. I think I’m drawn to it mainly because of the fennel/anise aspect of things. Definitely one of my favorite flavors in life.

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One of my favorite things this past fall was Ace’s Pumpkin Hard Cider. In my mind I thought for so long it was actually made from pumpkins, and then I realized it was just apple with spices and pumpkin flavor. Still, a delicious accompaniment to any “pumpkin” pie, like this masquerader.

IMG_2133We were having dinner with some friends. I said, “I’m bringing a Butternut Squash pie.” She said, “Great! I’m making a Peach-Blueberry Cobbler.” There were only four adults eating. This is a good kind of friend.

Kids love “pumpkin” pie and double desserts.

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