>On Sunday, Steve and I headed to the North Market for a special Thanksgiving Boot Camp cooking class with Robin Davis, food editor of the Columbus Dispatch.
The pie crust ingredients were similar to mine, so it wasn’t until the rolling out part of the process that I figured out my problem: the motion. Over the years, I adopted what I thought was stud-baker motion, going back and forth a few times in all directions before spinning the dough to repeat the process. As soon as Robin convinced me to resist the urge to rock my rolling pin back and forth, my pie crust began rolling out beautifully.
And after all the cooking was done, we sat down to eat. The bird tasted as beautiful as it looked, and the gravy, with its subtle sweet apple overtone, was amazing. You can find the recipe at Robin’s Dispatch blog, just douse the turkey with cider instead of broth.
But my favorite part was the dessert: pumpkin pie. Believe it or not, I had never tasted pumpkin pie before. Our Thanksgiving table is always so filled with so many delicious options that I always bypassed this distinctly American dessert. But after tasting this silky and delicately spiced dessert, I won’t be skipping over pumpkin pie anymore.
Robin Davis’ Perfect Pumpkin Pie
Makes 1 pie (about 8 servings)
Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons of cold water
Filling
1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin (make sure this is not a can labeled “pie filling”
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups of whipping cream
To make crust:
Mix flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter. Pulse until coarse meal forms.
Gradually blend in enough water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into a bowl; flatten into disk. Refrigerate 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Position rack in lower third of oven. Preheat to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a baking sheet in the oven while it heats.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to a deep dish pie pan. Fold edges under and crimp, forming a high border.
To make filling:
Puree pumpkin in processor. Add brown sugar and spices. Add eggs 1 at a time, pulsing after each addition. Gradually add cream, processing just until blended.
Place crust on preheated baking sheet. Pour in filling. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake until edges are puffed and center is set, about 45 minutes. Cool. (Pie can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
>What a fun class! How funny that you ran into fellow food bloggers at this small class.
We've found it helpful to brine turkey in a large plastic brining bag (10-16 gallon? I can't remember right now, I know we were able to fit a 16 pound turkey.) We then placed it in a cooler and left it in the garage, where it was colder than the refrigerator. I hope this helps!
Christine
>OMG. So many comments. Where to start?
a) You met Momo Fali? SO jealous. I feel connected with her. We used to be in the same BlogHer Ads loop. I owe her much traffic.
b) I had Pumkin Pie for the first time when Lucie was an infant. I'm sad I missed out on YEARS of it. So sad.
3) What are the odds that we'd both blog about brining at the exact same time? I hit publish on my latest Tiny Prints blog post just as your tweet about this post popped up in my TweetDeck window. Either we're both really scared by that turkey, or we really think alike!
>That looks like a lot of fun. No, you can't skip the pumpkin pie. That's the best part. I've even been known to eat it first, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. We're staying home this year and I'm cooking a totally untraditional Thanksgiving dinner since I'm the only one who truly likes turkey and all the trimmings. Instead this year I'm making fillets and fettucini alfredo with sauted button mushrooms.
>Thank you for not mentioning my pie disaster. Sigh…
>I loved the class! It was really great to meet everyone and Robin was a DOLL! I learned so much! I am a chef now- no? 🙂 oxxoox
[…] only a drive away. This year, with Baby Sophie in tow, I didn’t make anything other than the cider gravy, but my mother in law did make my carrot souffle, and even improved it by whipping the carrots with […]
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