Rosalia's Pumpkin Pie

Fresh Pumpkin Pie
Makes 2 pies

2 uncooked pie shells
4 cups cooked pumpkin, drained, pureed
2 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 425. Mix all the ingredients, either in a large blender or with a mixer. Pour into pie shells. Bake at 425 for 15 min. and then reduce to 350 for another 45 min.

To freeze pie mix: Place the pie mixture into a bag and seal. (I like to double bag the mixture so that I don’t get any freezer burn.) Place the bag on its side when freezing to reduce bulk. It tends to take at least a day for the entire mixture to freeze hard. It is fine to store the bags upright once they are frozen.

To use frozen mixture: Thaw in refrigerator, on the counter or in a bowl of hot water. Re-blend the pie mixture and then pour evenly into two pie shells. Follow baking directions above.

*This recipe is for pumpkin that has been pressure-cooked. If cooking pumpkin in an oven or microwave, increase the evaporated milk to 3 cups because the pumpkin won’t be as moist. If you use pressure-cooked pumpkin in other recipes, decrease the liquid a little to make up for the extra moisture in the pumpkin.

How to cook pumpkin:
1.Wash the outer pumpkin and cut into pieces that will fit for whatever cooking method you prefer. Since I pressure-cook the pumpkin, I tend to cube into about 4 or 5 inches pieces. Don’t peel off shell.
2.Wash and set the seeds aside. These can be roasted. Place the clean seeds on cookie sheet. Salt as desired and bake at 300, turning about every 5 minutes. Test for doneness after 15 minutes. Avoid over cooking and darkening the seeds. The seeds become crisper as they cool. Store in sealed container.
3.If you pressure-cook the pumpkin, add water to the cooker as recommended in your owner’s manual. Allow cooling before opening cooker.
4.Each pressure cooker is different, but I cook the pumpkin between 10 and 14 minutes. The older the pumpkin, the longer it takes to cook. If the pumpkin is a slightly undercooked, that should be okay; just run it through the blender. Increase the cooking time on the next batch. I’ve found that garden pumpkins (fresher) cook much quicker than store bought pumpkins. Adjust pumpkin cooking time as needed by observing.
5.Drain any water used in cooking and place cooked pumpkin in a strainer so the excess water may also drain away. Once cool enough to handle, the pumpkin shell can be easily peeled away from the pumpkin. Discard shell. Puree the cooked pumpkin to use in pies or other recipes.
6.Try freezing pumpkin in 1-cup measurements to add to breads, etc. Pumpkin is a nice substitute in recipes that call for applesauce.

From the kitchen of Rosalia McKean
Recipe adapted from “The Joy of Cooking”

I tried it today and it tastes amazing. I also made my own evaporated milk-saves on the cost when it's not cheap in the store and a nice way to rotate your milk. It worked great. To make: Mix 1 cup powdered milk with 1 1/3 cups water. You will have to make more than that to have enough for more pies. It will be slightly short of your 2 1/2 cups for this recipe.