Sugar Pie

Matt bought me this very rotund sugar pie pumpkin after witnessing my elation over a very large butternut squash.  

After an adequate period of admiration I cleaned, halved, baked, and pureed my pumpkin-- committing it  to pie duty.  

This was the first pumpkin pie I've ever made, and (as with most first time projects) I learned some things..

1.  Crust needs to be pre-baked when there is a custard filling involved.  People actually use pie weights  for this, as the crust will shrink without support.  I improvised by pre-baking the crust with a smaller pie pan supporting it.

2.  Pumpkin pies take a really, really long time to bake. Knifing the middle 12 times will not expedite the process.

The pies (I ultimately made two) were quite delicious.  I used this all butter crust recipe, and (after some heavy research) amalgamated several filling recipes.  It went something like this:

Pumpkin Pie Filling

3 eggs

1.25 cups half and half

2 C Pumpkin Puree 

.5-.75 C Brown Sugar (depending on desired sweetness)

1.5 t grated fresh ginger

1.5 t cinnamon 

1 t nutmeg

.5 t cloves

Whip eggs very well by themselves. Then, add half and half, pumpkin, spices, and sugar and whisk everything together very well.  Pour into an egg coated, pre-baked pie shell. Cook for a long ass time, and try not to poke the middle with too many knives...

A Load of Shiitake

The first bathroom crop yielded about a pound of shiitake mushrooms.  Holy Shiitake!  Not bad for two weeks, eh?

Last night, I used about half of the mushrooms to make gravy.  Now, I've never made gravy, or cooked much with mushrooms, but the thought of gravy-covered mashed potatoes on a rainy Sunday evening helped commit me to my project. 

 

Before beginning, I consulted a few different recipes and parsed together a basic plan. My recipe was essentially as follows:

Shiitake Mushroom Gravy

1 yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms
4 cups vegetable broth (I use vegetable bullion cubes to cut down on packaging)
4 T nutritional yeast
4 T flour
2-3 T soy sauce
olive oil
thyme and pepper to taste

Sauté the mushrooms in a healthy pour of olive oil until they become translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook all 3 until the mushrooms appear soft. Turn down heat and add the vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, flour. Stir until dissolved. If the gravy seems too liquid-y then add a little more flour. Turn up heat and bring to a boil. Add soy sauce, thyme, and pepper. Allow to simmer (with frequent stirs) until gravy has reached a desirable consistency, or until all the flavors have meshed.
 
Serve over tempeh, mashed potatoes, or both...

The gravy turned out deliciously, and we have a shiitake-load left. I foresee biscuits and gravy and more shiitake puns in the near future.