Welcoming autumn - Pumpkin pie with pain d'épices / U susret jeseni - Pita od bundeve sa pain d'épicesom

As Jamie Oliver often says, spectacular! It really was. The best pumpkin pie I've ever head.

I didn't like so much pumpkin in desserts, until now. Autumn is here (I'm so so happy because of that, esp. when it's raining!) and if you go to the farmer's market, you'll find beautiful pieces of different types of pumpkins.   

Except for inevitable pumpkin soup that I love so much to eat at this time of year, this is something I will bake often this autumn and winter. So comforting for rainy autumn mornings or cold winter days. 

I took the recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "Jamie does" and it's called The best pumpkin pie. I added french Pain d'épices which gave a nice texture and taste to the pumpkin filling. 

Crispy buckwheat shortcrust pastry and silky pumpkin filling, resembling a good baked pudding, who wouldn't like it? :)

Recipe for 4

Shortcrust pastry

250g buckwheat flour
pinch of salt
125g cold butter
1 egg
1tbsp dark muscovado sugar
  
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. Try to work quickly so that it does not become greasy. Add an egg and mix well with your hands forming a ball. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least half an hour before using. 

Pumpkin filling

400g butternut squash
 70g unrefined dark muscovado sugar
1/3tsp vanilla seeds or 1 vanilla pod
milk
70g pain d'epices
1tsp powdered cinnamon
2 eggs

Cut the butternut into cubes, place in a pot, add muscovado sugar, seeds from vanilla bean and milk so that is completely covered with it. Cook the butternut in milk until it softens, for about 15 minutes. At the end, add slices of pain d'epices and cinnamon. Put all in a food processor and mix until smooth. Chill and than add eggs. Mix again. You should have now a thick and silky cream.

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Roll the chilled dough in-between two sheets or non-stick baking paper.
Line the dough  into a 20 diameter tarte mold, pour the butternut cream and bake for about half an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When baked, chill in a refrigerator and serve with whipped cream. 

Recept na hrvatskom

Za prhko tijesto od heljde

250 g brašna od heljde
prstohvat soli
125 g hladnog maslaca
1 jaje
1 žlica tamnog muscovado šećera

Pomiješajte brašno, sol i šećer, dodajte hladni maslac na komadiće pa prstima ili još bolje vilicom gnječite sve zajedno tako da dobijete smjesu nalik krušnim mrvicama. Dodajte 1 umućeno jaje pa umijesite prhko tijesto i oblikujte u kuglu. Sremite tijesto u hladnjak na 1h.

Nadjev od bundeve 

400 g muškatne tikve, ili hokaido
70 g tamnog muscovado šećera (nemojte koristiti običan šećer, jer muscovado daje poseban okus piti)
1/3 žličice sjemenki vanilije ili sjemenke 1 mahune vanilije
mlijeko, cca 4dcl
70 g kruha pain d'epices (recept ovdje )
1 žličica mljevenog cimeta
2 jaja

Bundevu očistite od kore, narežite na manje komade, stavite u posudu zajedno sa šećerom, vanilijom pa dodajte mlijeko tako da bundeva bude potpuno pokrivena mlijekom. Kuhajte na laganoj vatri oko 15 minuta dok bundeva ne omekša. Maknite sa štednjaka, dodajte cimet i pain d'epices pa sve izmiksajte u kremu. Pustite da se skroz ohladi, dodajte jaja i ponovno umutite u kremu.

Pećnicu zagrijte na 190°C
Tijesto razvucite između 2 papira za pečenje, pažljivo premjestite u kalup za pite 20cm promjera. Ulijte kremu od bundeve pa pecite oko 30 minuta. Pita je gotova kad u sredinu ubodete čačkalicu i ona izađe suha. 

Pitu ohladite u hladnjaku i servirajte sa tučenim slatkim vrhnjem.