Pumpkin Pie with Coriander Caramel
It's only been a few years since I tried my first pumpkin pie. My boyfriend's American side of the family brought this delicious autumn treat into my life and I liked it from the first bite. I think I started with a recipe that was given to me by his mother Jenny who is Maltese but who once got as strongly influenced by American baking traditions as I did over the past few years. She lived in Canada and LA before she went back to her island home in the Mediterranean and took many recipes for sweet temptations with her!
After all the years of baking pies in my kitchen, several Halloweens and quite a few attempts at pumpkin pie I came up with this recipe with a little extravagance in the topping. I make a thick caramel sauce with crushed coriander seeds to drip over the golden pie. The sweet and bitter caramel refined with the aromatic seeds tickles the taste buds just right, it's an amazing combination! I always use homemade pumpkin purée preferably made of the orange Hokkaido as I like the little bits of skin shining through the surface that you can only leave on this kind of squash. The pumpkin takes just half an hour in the oven until it's done and it tastes so much better than the store bought purée. My pie mixture is refined with a good amount of spices, the obligatory mace, fresh ginger, cloves and cinnamon have to be quite present for my taste. The short crust I use is crumbly and buttery - crisp as it should be.
I baked the pie in one big round tart tin and a few smaller tartlets which I almost prefer as the pumpkin mixture was a bit more flat and therefore not too overpowering. It can easily cover up the flavours of the delicate pastry which is a pity, it has to be well balanced as always in life!
This recipe has been featured on Food52 Halfway To Dinner!
Pumpkin Pie with Coriander Caramel
For 1 big 22cm / 9" tart tin (preferably loose-bottomed) and 4 small tartlets (or 2 big pies) you need
For the short crust
plain flour 250g / 9 ounces
granulated sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons
salt 1/4 teaspoon
butter (cold) 140g / 5 ounces
water 2 tablespoons
Combine the flour with the sugar and salt. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Add the water and continue mixing with the hooks of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form a disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
For the pumpkin filling
pumpkin purée 400g / 14 ounces or pumpkin (squash), without the fibres and seeds, cut into cubes, 500g / 17.5 ounces (Hokkaido with skin or peeled butternut or Musquée de Provence pumpkin)
milk (warm) 250ml / 1 cup
organic eggs 2
Demerara sugar 80g / 3 ounces
ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon
ground mace or nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon
ground cloves 1/8 teaspoon
salt 1/4 teaspoon
freshly grated ginger 1 heaping teaspoon
For the pumpkin purée
Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (fan assisted oven).
Put the pumpkin into a baking dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with around 100ml / 3.5 ounces of water. Wet a piece of parchment paper under water, scrunch it up a little and cover the pumpkin in the baking dish, tucking the sides in. Cook for 30 minutes in the oven or until the pumpkin is soft. Purée the pumpkin in a blender or with a stick mixer and set aside (you could keep it in the fridge for a day).
For the pumpkin mixture
Mix the pumpkin purée with the milk and eggs until well combined. Stir in the sugar mixed with the spices, ginger and salt.
Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (top/ bottom heat).
Roll out the dough between cling film and line your tart tins with the pastry. Prick with a fork and blind bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
Take out the tart tin and turn the oven up to 220°C / 430°F (top/ bottom heat).
Fill the pumpkin mixture on top of the pastry, even it out and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 180°C / 355°F and bake for another 5 minutes (small tartlet tins) or for 10 minutes (in the bigger tart tin) or until the pie is golden and just set. Take the pie out and let it cool before you pour over the caramel.
For the coriander caramel
granulated sugar 100g / 3.5 ounces
water 50ml / 2 ounces
heavy cream 100ml / 3.5 ounces
coriander seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar, 1 teaspoon
In a large pan, bring the sugar and water to the boil, don't mix it. When it turns into a caramel-brown colour (neither too light nor too dark), take the pan off the heat, add the coriander seeds and slowly pour in the cream, whisk gently but well, the caramel should be thick and smooth.
