Sunday, November 8, 2009

bacon latticed kabocha squash pie.

yes. i made a pie. with a bacon lattice. why not?

well, actually, the hollywood farmer's market was having a pumpkin pie contest. i have never made a pie from scratch (i.e. crust and all) so i thought, "why not go all out (and add bacon)?" so i did, and...

...i got third place!

i was given a goodie bag full of fun things (including another squash) so i was pretty happy with the results. without further ado, here is the recipe...

kabocha squash pie with bacon lattice:

Pie:
4lb kabocha (from Sweet Leaf Farms), (you will need 2 ½ cups pureed)
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
2 eggs

10 slices of thick hickory smoked bacon

Crust:
(makes 2, 9” crusts)
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled/frozen butter cut into small cubes
6 tbsp cold (ice water)

For the crust:
Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter (being careful not to over knead). Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until you get a crumbly texture. Split the dough in two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
For the pie:
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Cut kabocha into large chunks, removing seeds/pulp (you can leave the skin on) and steam for 20 minutes or until tender. Scoop flesh away from the skin and puree. You will need 2 ½ cups.
Add cream cheese, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, vanilla extract and salt to kabocha puree Combine well.

Add eggs one at a time and combine well.

Roll out pie dough to fit into a 9” pie pan. Place into pie pan, making sure to secure dough along the whole surface of pan. Add pie filling and bake in the oven for 1 hr*

In the meantime, take bacon slices and render fat out. Under low heat, place bacon slices in the pan, not more than 30 seconds per side. It should still be soft (not crispy).
*After 30 mins, take pie out of the oven and quickly create a bacon lattice on top of the pie. Place the pie tin on a baking sheet (in case there are hanging edges because more fat will render out) and place back in the oven for the remaining 30 mins.
If you feel motivated, I quickly pan fried fresh sage leaves in olive oil to create a garnish.
Pull pie out of the oven, making sure the bacon has crisped up. You can turn the broiler on for the last few minutes of baking time if it still needs more cooking.
Garnish with fried sage leaves and serve!



have fun with this one guys! it was awesome!

3 comments:

  1. jane, you seem to be some sort of bacon savant. genius.

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  2. i was pretty impressed myself...i love bacon.

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  3. There is something so wrong about this...and so right. Would love a bite. Come to think of it, anything with bacon, squash and pastry can't go wrong!

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