Pumpkin pie delicious as fall treat

With all the pumpkins currently for sale, people should be mindful of the fact that pumpkins are a nutritious food that can be used to make pies throughout the fall season.    Don't just waste them on jack-o-lanterns that mold and must be discarded around Halloween time.

When surrounded by pumpkins in the grocery store produce section, I think of my mother, the queen of homemade pumpkin pies.

During my middle school years, my family and I lived in lush, green Santa Maria, Cali., where it rained about nine months out of the year. Although my siblings and I loved our central coast home, we came to dread the mile-long walk home from our school bus stop during the fall and winter months.

But after slogging through black mud wet with rain that poured from our umbrellas and seeped into our jackets, we were happy to step into a dry, warm house filled with the aroma of freshly-baked goods.

My mother, a full-time, stay-at-home-mom, was renowned  for her homemade French bread, yeast rolls and cinnamon rolls. In the fall, however, it was the scent of her pumpkin empanadas (turnovers) and pies that filled the misty woods and beckoned us home.

We used to pick our pumpkins at a nearby farm called Thomasland. Then, while we kids were at school, my mom would prepare our afternoon snack. She’d cut a pumpkin up into large chunks and boil them for about 20 to 25 minutes, until they were soft.

Next, she set the pumpkin pieces aside to cool while she made dough for a pie crust. After rolling, cutting and pressing dough into a pie pan, she scooped the soft flesh from the pumpkin shells and mixed it with sugar, milk, an egg and spices.

She poured the mixture into the pie shell and put it in the oven, timing everything so that she would just be taking the pie from the oven about the time we arrived home. On the days when she made empanadas, we  arrived home to the sound of the turnovers sizzling in hot oil on the stove top.

My mother sprinkled the warm empanadas with cinnamon sugar and served them to us with milk.

At about age 9, my mother learned to make pumpkin pies and empanadas from her grandmother, whom we called ‘buela (BWEH-la, shortened form of the Spanish word for grandmother).

“Pumpkin pie from scratch is really messy, but it’s easy to make,” my mother, Chris Keener, said. “I used to enjoy hanging out with my grandma and making it. We never made anything from a can. We always made everything fresh from scratch, and we used whatever was in season.”

Fortunately, I was able to get ’buela’s pumpkin pie recipe, which I included with this article. But my mother balked when I attempted to obtain the empanada recipe. “My grandma never measured anything exactly," she said. “She just kind of measured with her hands, depending on how much she needed at the time.”

My mother did say, however, that ’buela omitted the egg and milk from the pumpkin filling because the mixture should be more paste-like than for a pie. ‘Buela also used tortilla dough flavored with cinnamon and anise seeds for the empanada shells. So for those readers out there who can wing a vague recipe like that, have at it!

Anyone out there with a recipe or food story to share, please email your idea, name and contact information to desertlife@yumasun.com.

Abuela’s pumpkin pie filling
(Use to fill a homemade or frozen pie crust)
1 small pumpkin, with stem, seeds and strings removed
1 egg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 / 4 cup evaporated milk
Pie crust (frozen or homemade)

Use one of two methods to cook pumpkin: 1) Cut up pumpkin in chunks and boil for about 20 to 25 minutes, until flesh is soft, or 2) Cut pumpkin in half and bake, cut sides down, in 350 degree oven for about one hour or until flesh is soft.

Allow cooked pumpkin to cool, then scoop flesh out with spoon. Measure out two cups of pumpkin flesh, and mix it with egg and spices. Then add milk a little at a time. Sometimes, the full amount of milk is not needed. Just use it to soften the other ingredients, but don’t make the mixture too runny.

Pour pumpkin filling into pie crust and bake in 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes to one hour, until pie is golden brown. Test center of pie with a butter knife. If the knife comes out clean, the pie is done. Cool pie before serving.