Here it is, a week since Thanksgiving and I'm only just getting around to posting about it...
Our first Thanksgiving was a nice day. We had one of Kim's workmates (who also happens to be an old friend from Adelaide) over for lunch and stuffed ourselves full of holiday food; turkey, sweet potato, potato bake, green beans, broccolini and crusty sourdough followed by home made pumpkin pie. Oh, and "Tofurky" for our vegetarian guest. I couldn't resist buying the "Tofurky" roast - even just for the name! Actually, the "Tofurky" tasted pretty good. Quite similar in flavor to real turkey however the texture just wasn't quite right, kind of like a turkey meatloaf!
I have to admit that I succumbed to laziness (or lack of time and baking equipment) for a lot of the meal. The potato bake and sweet potato (with maple glazed pecans and cranberries, mmm...) were both ready made side dishes from our local Trader Joe's supermarket. The ready made meals here are fantastic. Nothing like the flavorless mush passing as ready meals in Australia. There are so many good options when it comes to ready made meals here that you could get away with never cooking yet eat a healthy, home-made style meal every night. And now while we're living in our furniture-less new apartment at the moment that's just what we're doing!
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving...
The one thing that I did make myself was the pumpkin pie. Ok, so there was a little bit of cheating involved (I used a store bought pie base and tinned pumpkin) but I'm still going with calling it home made. I got my recipe from joyofbaking.com. You can find it here. Or, you can follow my much shorter, edited version of the recipe below.
Pumpkin Pie
Base:
23cm store bought pie base
1/4 cup (25 grams) pecans, toasted and ground
1/4 cup (25 grams) crushed gingersnap cookie
Pumpkin Filling:
3 large eggs
1 425g can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon *
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger *
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves *
* I used Pumpkin Pie Spice which is a combination of these ingredients. I used about 1 3/4 teaspoons of this.
Maple Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
Toast the pecans in a 180C (350F) oven for approx 8 minutes or until golden brown.
Crush toasted pecans and ginger snap cookies in a food processor until finely ground.
Once ground, press the pecan and cookie mix into the pie base. This will prevent the pie base from going soggy.
Return the pie base to the fridge.
In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a peppered pie base. Bake the for approx 45-55 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center may still look wet). A knife inserted about 2.5 cm from side of pan will come out almost clean.
Whisk the cream and maple syrup together until soft peaks have formed.
Whisk the cream and maple syrup together until soft peaks have formed.
Serve the pumpkin pie at room temperature with a large dollop of maple cream.
Mmm... delicous and festive!
Speaking of festive, here's one more turkey that Ava drew for Thanksgiving. A very happy turkey with lots of balloons. This one was put in our front window so that our guest knew which house to go to. Apparently it worked!
No comments:
Post a Comment