Pumpkin Pie

So I mentioned a few days ago that Jose found this cute little pumpkin at the grocery store on Sunday. The label called it a “pie pumpkin.” Perhaps I missed this somewhere along the way, but I just assumed that pumpkin pies and jack-o-lanterns came from the same source.

But no! According to Jose — who looked it up — these pie pumpkins are better because they are sweeter. (And apparently some canned pumpkin is actually winter squash, since the two are so similar. Who knew!?)

The label had easy instructions for making the pie itself, but somehow we had to cook the pumpkin first. I had no idea how to do this, but hey, it was Jose’s problem since he was the one baking. (I am such a good wife.) According to the Interwebs, you just slice it in half, clean out the seeds and goop, and bake it for about 45 minutes until it’s nice and soft.

When it came out of the oven, it looked the same, but you could stick a fork all the way through the rind without any resistance. The pumpkin meat slid right out of the rind. Mushy indeed.

Eventually we got it all pureed, although I must now inform you all that a blender is a poor substitute for a food processor when it comes to thick things. It took a long time and many pauses to scrape the pumpkin around before it was sufficiently pureed. (Note to self: perhaps we should get a food processor.)

This particular recipe called for mixing the pumpkin with sour cream.

And of course a good pumpkin pie requires lots of fall spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Jose’s been claiming that he smells fall spices since about mid-August. I’m pretty sure that was wishful thinking, but now his claim is finally legitimate! Fall spices! Hooray!

That one little pumpkin turned out to make enough filling for TWO shallow 8-9 inch pies. Perhaps that’s why frozen pie crusts come in packs of two. How fortunate!