Roasting a Pumpkin for pie (and a few other questions)
Hello,
So I have some small pumpkins that I think are pie pumpkins, or at least I hope they are, since I intend to make pies out of them anyways. I'm not really sure the best way to roast them, though, so that they can be made into pie, as I understand that that is the first step.
I have seen several different instructions for how to do so, some list long periods of time for the roasting, which I do not have (it is a shared oven, so using it for several hours would not go over well, even if I did choose to do so over night, as I would need to check in on it every half hour or so to make sure no one turned the oven off on me), some do not list a time for the temperature, so I don't really know what a good temp. and time is for not needing many hours.
What temperature and roast time do you all use? A couple hours or less would be good ... although if it's going to take like three or something, I could probably find something to do while essentially baby sitting it. Does the pan make a difference? I have some Pyrex® pans that I can use ... would I want to put aluminum foil in them before using them (besides making clean up easier)?
After I have roasted the pumpkin, it's probably going to hang out in my fridge for a bit before actually turning into filling, but when I do turn it into filling, am I going to need sweetened condensed milk or cream or can I somehow make do with whole milk and sugar (for the sweetness of the condensed milk? I can see if the local market has any, but I have my doubts, and I'd really rather not catch the bus to grocery store, as I have a lot to do.
Oh, and one more thing (and please do not criticize me for this one), I'm on a bit of a budget, and without much in the way of spices (I really only have some herbs), so I got the pumpkin pie spice ... yes, yes, I know, collective gasp, the stuff that comes prepackaged and predetermined, but sometimes we have to take what we can get. How much would be a good amount to use? Most of the recipes I see call for various spices individually, so I'm not really sure. I do not want the spices to be over-powering, just a background note to the pumpkin itself. Any advice on an amount would be helpful ...
So to summarize what I'm asking:
1. How do I best roast the pumpkin with time constraints?
2. Do I want to wrap my Pyrex® pans with tin foil when I do so?
3. Is there a way to get by with whole milk and sugar?
4. How much spice is enough?
Basically, I'm looking for a recipe on how to make the pie from the pumpkins with several constraints ...
(Don't worry, I am going to make my own crust ...) But ummmm ... am I going to have an issue with my disposable pie tins? I don't really have any real ones here ... They'll work okay, right? Or should I be coming up with something else creative?
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jmcarthur8
Nov 20, 2011 10:12 AM
I have roasted pumpkins for pie for years. All I do is cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and strings, place the halves cut side down on a baking sheet, and roast at about 350' to 400'' for 50 - 60 minutes.
Let it cool for awhile, scoop all the pumpkin out of the shell, and into a sieve, let it sit and drain a bit, then to dry it further, cook it down some in a sauce pan. Some people like to run the pumpkin through the food processor or blender to puree it, but I like the texture in the pie when it has a bit of stringiness to it, so I never puree it.
It takes about a half hour in the saucepan to cook the rest of the liquid off. When you can run a spoon through it and don't see water separate out, it's done.
You can use foil if you like. I just soak my baking sheet in water for a little while and all the browned bits come off easily.
Here's a recipe from Allrecipes.com that uses milk and sugar: -
The answers to your questions will help me too. After buying thanksgivbing pies for many years I decided I'm doing them this year. So I bought some pie pumpkins at our farmers market yesterday. I asked the woman who sold them to me for advice and she said one thing: She said after roasting the pumpkin, put it in a sieve to drain for 24 hours. That way the pumpkin will be thick (like what you'd get canned). She said to use the drained pumpkin water in soups or things like that.
I'm definitely going to do this. The reason I stopped making thanksgiving pies in the first place was that it seemed like they didn't set and needed to bake forever. So I don't want to start out with watery pumpkin in the first place.
I looked online just a bit yesterday and the first website I looked at said the same thing: drain the pumpkin before using it.
This site talks about roasting the pumpkin. It doesn't need to take hours. And this one talks about draining off pumpkin water so the pie isn't watery: http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkincoo...
I think my problem years ago with my pies not setting was that I expected them to get completely set in the oven. Part of the setting may take place as the pie cools. I'd apprectiate feedback on that and any advice myself.
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re: karykat
Ohhh ... straining would not have occurred to me ... fortunately, I was going to do things in a few steps ... I may just need to work the blending in earlier than I was planning, so I can strain the blended pumpkin ... I'm not sure I'll have a use for the drained pumpkin water, but I guess I could bring it along with me to where I'm going for Thanksgiving ... it might be useful for someone else.
Mmmm ... the center of a pumpkin pie should still be a bit jiggly when it comes out of the oven. My family has always made our own pumpkin pies ... though never from an actual pumpkin, and usually with access to many more things ... working in a limitedly-supplied kitchen is a bit of a shock to my system, that's for sure. Cooking usually takes less than an hour, though I'll probably end up asking my mum on what the time usually is when I actually go to bake the pie ... and of course some of it is just going to have to be done by sight.
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It doesn't take that long, cut them into pieces and it will cook faster. I put a bit of water in the pan, so I wouldn't use foil. Then when done, scrape it out of the shell, puree (or it will be stringy).
I googled some recipes using search terms: pumpkin pie made with milk, and found several.
Also, look at the total amount of spices used, then use that much pumpkin pie spice. Like maybe a teaspoon or so per pie.
