pumpkin pie

Well hello folks. I apologize for my absence, but let me explain. I am on my surgery rotation and these people work an absurd amount of hours every single day. Sunday to Sunday, at all hours of the day and night. My favorite question to ask this rare breed in the OR is "what would you be if you were not a surgeon?" Generally, normal people answer pretty quickly when I pose this question, because surely we have all thought of what we might be if we were not on our current trajectory...but the surgeons I have been around lately pause an uncomfortably long time before answering. It is like they have never thought any other career could possibly supplant their current one. They LOVE what they do. 

Guess what dear readers? I kind of love it too I think.  

Despite the long hours and sometimes tedious call schedule, I think I love surgery. I am still somewhat hesitant to say I have found my calling in life, but it seems like it is all I want to talk about when I open my mouth lately. I feel a serious passion brewing and it is rather exciting! We will see....

On a less consequential note: Thanksgiving finally gave me two days off in a row and an opportunity to cook a little. Mrs. Patti assigned me the pumpkin pie. Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) recently came out with a new cookbook so I knew exactly which recipe I wanted to try. The crust is tender. The filling is so well spiced. And the whipped cream is dammmn good (yes, that expletive is a necessary modifier here, just so you know I am serious). 

Ina Garten’s Pumpkin Pie

Filling

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée (not pie filling)

½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup whole milk

2 tablespoons dark rum

Rum Whipped Cream (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line an 11-inch pie pan with the unbaked pie crust and place it on a sheet pan. Line the crust with parchment paper. Fill the paper threequarters full with the beans and bake the crust for 15 minutes, until the edges start to brown. Remove the beans and paper (save the beans for another time), prick the crust all over with the tines of a fork, and bake for another 5 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, orange zest, eggs, cream, milk, and rum. Pour the filling into the baked pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the filling is just set in the middle and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely. Serve with the rum whipped cream.

Rum Whipped Cream

Serves 8 to 10

A dollop of mascarpone or crème fraîche in whipped cream stabilizes it so you can make it in advance and store it in the fridge without it separating.

1 cup cold heavy cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon mascarpone

1 tablespoon good dark rum

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the sugar, mascarpone, rum, and vanilla and beat on medium-high until it forms soft peaks. Serve with the pumpkin pie.

NOTE: If you overwhip the cream and it looks curdled, just add a little more cream and whip it until it forms soft peaks.

Perfect Pie Crust

Makes two (9- to 11-inch ) crusts

There are a few tricks to making perfect pie crust. First, the butter, shortening, and water need to be ice cold. When you roll out the dough, you want to see bits of butter throughout. Second, allow the dough to relax in the fridge for at least thirty minutes before rolling it out. And third, don’t stretch the dough at all when you ease it into the pan. Perfect pie crust every time!

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) very cold unsalted butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¹⁄³ cup very cold Crisco

½ cup ice water

Cut the butter in --inch dice and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out onto a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle at least 1 inch larger than the pie pan, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough so it doesn’t stick to the board. (You should see bits of butter in the dough.) Fold the dough in half, ease it into the pie pan without stretching at all, and unfold to fit the pan. With a small sharp paring knife, cut the dough 1 inch larger around than the pan. Fold the edge under and crimp the edge with either your fingers or the tines of a fork.