Vincent Price Halloween Cookalong, Part 2
This was a completely new one on me: pumpkin pie. Never even fancied trying a slice, never mind making my own one. But I rose to the Silver Screen Suppers challenge and gave it a whirl! Very glad I did as it was very delicious. I had planned ahead and made a batch of sweet pastry and brought that with me to Center Parcs, which was a good thing as we had a packed schedule of activities that didn’t allow for pastry making. The kitchens were, as I said earlier, well-equipped, but didn’t extend to the full range of baking kit. After much discussion of whether it was worth popping out to a supermarket to buy (yet another) tart tin, brother-in-law and I decided that we would stay put and try out a pirex dish. I know a metal tin is meant to be the way to get a good bake, but improvisation is good too and it worked very well. In that spirit and in traditional holiday style, I used a wine bottle in place of a rolling pin.
The filling was easy to make and, although the recipe didn’t specify how long to bake the pie for, it took about an hour. We had tried to find some marzipan to decorate the pie with gravestones, skulls and the like, but the Center Parcs supermarket let us down on that one thing. Fair enough really – there can’t be many people who go there to make their Christmas cakes. Some of the amounts are slightly guess work, as we didn’t have scales with us. I used a big coffee cup, which took the whole can of pumpkin.
Ingredients
250g sweet pastry
425g can of pumpkin
3 eggs, well beaten
300ml double cream
150g granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Method
Roll out the pastry for a 22 cm tart tin (which needs to be quite deep – a pirex casserole dish also works…) and chill for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.
In a large bowl combine the pumpkin with the eggs, then add the cream, sugar, salt and spices, preferably with the assistance of a suitably attired child (thank you, Missy B in your fabulous outfit).
Blend well and pour into the chilled pastry.
Bake for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat to 180°C, for 45 minutes or until the filling is set.
Eat with a spooky film on in the background. The recommended film for the Cookalong was The House on Haunted Hill starring, obviously, Vincent himself. The teenager found this more amusing than scary (mind you, she had pre-watched it with another cynical teen chum a few days earlier), but her younger cousins were a bit tense.
The unadorned pie was allowed to speak for itself, which it did eloquently. Sister-in-law didn’t really want any, but then succumbed to a second, larger slice. I thought it was lovely and, as I bought two tins of pumpkin, will be making it again soon.
Oooh now very tempted to make pumpkin pie – and thanks for working out the metric measurements.
It’s a weird thing but here in the UK I think most people think they won’t like Pumpkin Pie but when they try it they do. LOVED your photos and of course, loved the use of a wine bottle instead of a rolling pin. You are the Queen of cookery improvisation and I raise my hat to you for participating in the Cookalong whilst on holiday. Your pie looks delicious and I love the witchy stirring photo – is that a WIG Missy B is sporting?!
Nope – that is all her own hair!!
Your photos look great. A great fun evening
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I love Pumpkin Pie and always make sure to have a slice at Thanksgiving, but I’ve never made one myself. I’m of the opinion that it would be pretty difficult to do better than my grandma’s, but if anyone could do it, it would be Vincent Price!
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