The Good Stuff - Pumpkin Pie & Mikkeller Jackie Brown

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http://goodfoodgoodbeer.files.wordpr...225&h=300To carry on with the Halloween season-theme, I thought I’d join the ranks of bloggers at making a Pumpkin Pie this weekend. I’d never made one before – and it is slightly more involved, baking-wise – *but if you’re into Autumnal flavour (spices, richness, cosy comfort food) then it’s one to attempt. The Streusel-crumb topping is something I saw whilst researching the recipe, and I’m glad I added it – the sweet, candied crunch it provides really rounds the Pumpkin filling off nicely.
Firstly, you need to roast your Pumpkin. Get any size you want – but a decent one. If you can only get small ones, get a couple – after all, it’s better to have too much than not enough. Half the Pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and stringy insides, then roast, face down, on a baking tray in an oven at about 180c. When soft (depends entirely on the size – about 30-50 minutes, I’d say), remove, drain the excess water you’ll get, then scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Mash it up and leave to cool.
Now you need to make your sweet pastry. Sift 140g of Plain Flour and 1/4 tsp of Baking Powder together in a bowl. Add (and you can put as much or as little as you want here, but I recommend a heavy couple of pinches) of Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Ginger – all powdered, of course. Add a little Salt, and 50g of Caster Sugar. Finally, add 50g of diced, cold unsalted Butter. Rub it together with your fingertips and soon you’ll have breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle, add one beaten Egg, and mix until it becomes a stiff Dough.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface and line a greased baking tin with it. Crimp up the edges, then cover with cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to harden.
http://goodfoodgoodbeer.files.wordpr...158&h=210Now to finish off the filling. To the Pumpkin mash, add one whole tin (200ml – ish) of Condensed Milk, a dash of Vanilla Essence, more Cinnamon and Ginger, a pinch of Salt, 1tbsp of Demerara Sugar, and mix up. When the mixture is cool (it should be by now anyway) add two beaten Eggs.*
All you need to then is pour the mixture (you’ll hopefully have more than you need) into the pastry case. Bake at 220c for 15 minutes.
Whilst the first stage of baking is happening, make the Streusel topping by putting 2 tbsp of Plain Flour in a bowl, and adding 4tbsp of Demerara Sugar, 1tsp of Cinnamon, a chunk of cold, unlsalted butter (about 5g) and rubbing together to make a crumb like you did with the pastry. Add 60g each of chopped Walnuts and Pecans and mix in – there you go.
Take the pie out, add the topping, and bake at 180g for another 30-35 minutes or so. It’s done when you put a skewer into the centre of the pie and it comes out clean.
http://goodfoodgoodbeer.files.wordpr...225&h=300Well, there you go. It’s a decent couple of hours all together in the kitchen; but hey *- crack open a beer, put some music on and you’re laughing. Beer-wise, I didn’t drink any whilst this was being ‘tested’ whilst warm – but yesterday I had a slice with an old*bottle of Mikkeller’s Jackie Brown (6%abv) and it was lush – the coffee-focused finish of the beer just took some of the sweetness away from the Pie in a really balanced way. I’d certainly recommend going for lighter, but dryer, darker beers rather than heavy, sweet ones – the Pie is sweet, spicy and creamy and you don’t want to over-do that. SummerWine’s Barista, Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch, Kernel’s Porter, Hardknott’s Aether Blaec and Dark Star Espresso are all beers which immediately spring to mind.
And of course – you can also give this a go with Sweet Potato if you have no Pumpkins!


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