PPG's Delicata Pie Recipe

Good morning pie people, 

Happy October and long time no see.  I'm writing today because I wanted to share a fantastic seasonal pie recipe that you all should try out. While I don't bake "professionally" like I used to out in Montana, living here in Buffalo has given me the opportunity to scale back the baking which also makes the eating all the more enjoyable.  Having just moved into our apartment a few months back, last night my roommate Morgan and I finally had a proper housewarming party and several of our friends came over and brought a tremendous amount of delicious food while yours truly provided dessert.

The potluck was a certifiable success.  Among many other delicious items, there were (Chinese) chicken wings, (Turkish) stuffed peppers and (Finnish) Karelian pierogies.  Having a piece of pie with my coffee for breakfast this morning got me to thinking that I should probably give out a recipe or two once in awhile for those who might be interested.

A little background on the differences between Squash

Throughout the course of the party, a few friends asked me what was my favorite pie to make/eat.  It didn't take long to answer that it is squash (and pumpkin) pie.  So I've decided to share the recipe and offer a tips for preparing your own squash pie.

Keep in mind that the prep time is a little bit longer with these pies but the pay off is well worth it.  Using fresh squash or pumpkin beats the canned version every day.  I will also acknowledge that the canned stuff works extremely well and tastes good too but nothing can ever replace fresh ingredients.  So without much further ado, here goes:

PPG's Delicata (Squash) Pie

1 (9 oz) pie crust/shell

Ingredients:
16 oz squash (pureed)

2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
3/4 low-fat milk
3/4 C heavy whipping cream
1 TBSP butter (melted)

1/2 C brown sugar
 5 TBSP sugar

1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp of salt

Prep:
Heat your oven to 350 degrees
(It's 350 for the baking of the squash and then 425 for the baking of the actual pie)

Baking the squash in your oven is the longest in terms of time but is also, I find, the most efficient in ease of separating the fruit from the skin but more importantly it can also warm up your house and properly fill it with the scent of warm squash.     

You will need an ovenproof container for my preferred method.

1) Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds.
2) Arrange/place the cleaned out halves with the skin placed on the bottom.
3) Cover the container and bake it for 45 to 90 minutes.  (In my present oven it took 75 minutes, but usually it falls between 60-90 depending on how hot your oven runs) 
4) Test it (after 45 minutes minimum) periodically by sticking it with a fork or spoon to see if it is soft.
5) Once it is soft to the touch, remove from the oven and place on top of the stove/counter and let cool for exactly 30 min.  This will give time for the water that inevitably surfaces on top of the fruit filling to evaporate and settle back into the filling.
6) At that point you then scrape the fruit of the squash off of the skin.  A little skin isn't the worst thing but the goal is to have no skin in the mixing bowl of baked squash filling.
7) Once you have the filling separated from the skin you can then place it all into a food processor and blend it for 4-6 minutes with the goal of making the puree as smooth as possible.
8) At this point you pour or measure 16 oz of the filling for use for the pie filling.  Any extra fruit can be stored in the refrigerator.*

 

* Depending the type of squash, the yield will vary.  For this recipe I prefer Delicata squash and it typically takes 3-4 of them to get enough for 16 or a few more ounces.  It is also important to keep in mind to not exceed 16 oz for the actual pie filling because if you add too much the center will never completely congeal properly (or at least up to my perfectionist? standards).

Once you have the squash puree, you are now ready to add the wet ingredients and then the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Once you have it all blended sufficiently you can pour the filling into your pie pan/shell.

At this point, you should (always) bake the pie on the bottom rack of your oven at 425 degrees for 30 to 60 minutes.  Again, this speaks to the varying degrees of heat an oven produces but I find with even the hottest of ovens, it should take 40-50 minutes.

If you have any questions or feedback please let me know and I hope you'll get to try this delicious recipe out.  Trust me, you will not be disappointed.  Happy baking!

Sincerely,

Peter

"The Philosophy of Reform": Ç 8 lands in the Empire State

Well what do you know? I trade Missoula in for Buffalo and I am still snowed in, wind-blown and half-frozen. Not that I mind as I am a fan of the North Country but things are nonetheless quite different here. For better or worse, I've traded in the Rocky Mountains for the Great Lakes, Portland and Seattle in favor of Boston and NYC, Huckleberry for Apple country and it also just so happens that this year's 8th edition of Ç has followed me into the Empire State. Not permanently mind you, but the feisty lit rag is branching out by setting up shop situated between the cultural nexus that apparently is Buffalo to Boston to NYC.

As such, I am pleased to announce this issue's guest editor, native New Yorker Keith Olejniczak. KO's a philosophical guy by way of formal training but he's also been a writer/steady contributor and overall supporter of this lit rag project since its 2007 inception. Now he gets to steer the ship, with the help of his talented wife and artist, Maureen, who will be overseeing the artistic direction for the covers and any other accompanying visual pieces.   

To briefly recap for the uninitiated, Ç is an annual literary arts journal for low-down writers and artists - small batch productions, typically hand-bound, not meant for review online or marketed and sold with ISBNs, perhaps stashed in a few special collections -  it's the kind of journal you may hear about but will rarely, if ever, catch a glimpse of unless you contribute yourself or happen upon its release party. Such festive occasions are one-off events that come after the final production in each and every calendar year. Yet there are a lot of words to be parsed and much ink to be dried before we get to the party. So peep the visionary and activist Mill motif and check out the flier below - and note the deadline for submission is 15 May 2014.

A few final words. 2014 has been a rough year already for poets, revolutionaries and critical thinkers. To date we've lost heavyweights like Baraka, Seeger and Hall but have also unfortunately bore witness to the persecution of Shabaani. I mention all of this to say that if you believe, like me, that writing is fighting - well then we certainly have a lot more writing to do to combat and correct the rampant corruption and injustice that plagues our ravaged, plundered and globalized home we call earth.

One last thing to consider, these words of the slave who taught himself to read, delivered on August 3, 1857 in Canandaigua, New York:

"Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

 This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - Frederick Douglass

Consider this another chapter of the untelevised revolution. If you've got something clever, creative and insightful to say, submit your works to the email listed on the flier. Once again the submission deadline is May 15, 2014 and our production team will be hard at work this summer compiling, editing and selecting your works with the goal of heading to press in the fall. Future correspondences will be conducted via e and snail mail. Looking forward to hearing from you - from newbies to regular contributors - if you don't know, now you know.