Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated  in the United States of  America  as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and is said to have arisen from a celebration feast in 1621 at Plymouth in Massachusetts that  was prompted by a good harvest.  The pilgrims who began emigrating from England in the 1620s gave thanks for a good harvest that would see them through the harsh New England winter.
Although we do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Britain, there is no reason why we cannot enjoy some of the foods that are traditional Thanksgiving staples and anyone who has been to America will know that it is not Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie, so here is my recipe for this sweet delicacy.    

                         PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients

Pastry

175g plain flour

90g unsalted butter or half butter and half lard

Approx 2 tbsp cold water

Filling

450g  pumpkin pulp

2 eggs

250 ml double cream

75g soft brown sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1.       First make the pastry:   Place the flour in a large bowl and cut the butter into small pieces.  Rub the fat into the flour using just your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the water and mix with your hand until you have a firm dough. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least half an hour.

2.       Roll out the pastry, turning it regularly on the board, until you have a thin circle slightly larger than the pie dish.  Lift one edge of the pastry and roll it around the rolling pin. Gently lift it over the pie dish then lower it and press gently into the tin.  Prick the pastry with a fork and refrigerate for a further 15 minutes.

3.       Remove the pastry case from the fridge, put a piece of greaseproof paper on the pastry and weight it down with baking beans. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and carefully remove the baking beans and paper. Return it to the oven for 10 minutes then take it out and put it on a rack to cool.

4.       Put all the filling ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat or stir well. Pour into the cooled pastry case and bake for 30 minutes or until the filling has just set.  It should not be set hard but should have a slight wobble as the filling will firm up as it cools.

4.  Serve warm with cream or “a la mode” with ice cream.

       

 

Season of Mists

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

When John Keats wrote these words in his Ode "To Autumn" he perfectly captured the mood of Autumn and even though he wrote those words in 1819, almost 200 years ago, they still resonate today.  This is the season when the harvest is gathered in, marrows, pumpkins and squash are swollen with promise, the branches of fruit trees bow under the weight of ripening apples, pears and plums. Make the most of Nature’s larder: pick blackberries when you see them along the wayside, enjoy the fruits and vegetables in season, go for a walk in the autumn sunshine and kick your feet through the fallen leaves and cherish the light evenings before the clocks go back and the days grow shorter.

Autumn is a beautiful time of year and there are so many wonderful foods in season.  My kind neighbour gave me some apples from his garden so what could be better than an apple pie.

APPLE PIE

Ingredients

8oz/225g plain flour

4oz/100g butter

2oz/50g lard

3 tbsp cold water

1 tsp cinammon

3 tbsp  sugar

2-3large cooking  apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Egg/milk

Rolling pin

Sharp knife

8inch/20cm metal pie plate

1.   First, make the shortcrust pastry: Put the flour into a large bowl and cut the butter and lard into dice and drop into the flour.  Rub the fat into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Gradually add the water and mix together with your hands until you have a dough.  Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 20 minutes.

2.   After 20 minutes, sprinkle flour onto a board and your rolling pin and roll out half the pastry, keep turning it as you roll so that it does not stick and you get a circle the size of the pie plate.  Carefully roll the pastry round the rolling pin and transfer to the pie plate. Moisten the edges of the pastry with egg or milk.

3.  Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180c, 400F and put a baking tray in the oven.

3.   Arrange the apple slices on top and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

4.   Roll out the other half of the pastry into a circle and place on top of the apples.

5.   Crimp or squeeze the edges of the pastry together to form a seal and trim off any excess.  Roll the spare bits of pastry out and cut out shapes such as leaves to make decorations.  Brush egg or milk over the top of the pastry.

6. Put the pie plate on the heated baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Serve warm with custard or cream.