First, the pulp had to be cooked down. My husband actually supervised this, as I was running around doing Mommy-things at the time. He put the pumpkin pulp in a pot and brought it to a boil, then added some salt. Then lowering the heat, he simmered for over an hour (probably longer than necessary. They watched a movie while it simmered!) Then they put all the pulp into cheese cloth and SQUEEZED! It was stringy, which could have been fixed by a little time in the blender, but we’ll try that next fall.
Four pumpkins produced a great deal of pulp as you would imagine, and I’m sorry to say I did not get around to making a pumpkin soup soon enough to use the rest of the pulp, but I will be ready next year! Here’s the pie recipe. (She played with the original recipe, and as you’ll see from the parentheses, she didn’t always measure exactly!)
Pastry for 9in pie pan
2 eggs
2 cups cooked pumpkin
1 cup sugar (maybe a little more!)
¼ cup flour (about – added because the pulp seemed runny)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon (actually, a little more)
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the pastry into the pie tin. Beat the eggs slightly with a hand beater, then beat in remaining ingredients. Place the pastry-lined pie plate on the oven rack and pour in the filling (this prevents spilling or splashing on the sides when carrying it from the table.) Bake 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes longer. Top with whipped cream.
This pie was sweet and creamy, and the whipped cream made it perfect. I know it’s late for this year, but save this recipe for next year! I will be ready and buy extra pumpkins, so I’ll be set for pies and soups and seeds.