Eagle Brand Pumpkin Pie
November 20th, 2008 categories: Market Commentary, My Favorite....
A Family Tradition
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was a PGA golf professional at a little club in Salinas, California named Corral de Tierra Country Club. As I look back on my working life, it was probably the best job I’ve ever had. The membership was phenomenal, people from the agriculture business who were hard working and enjoyed life. The golf course, for my game at the time, was challenging, in great condition and I was able to play all I wanted. The Head Professional, Gerry, was tough to work for but as I look back on it now, he was a very positive influence on my life and I depended on him for advice years later. He’s a wonderful person. I believe he is still employed there in the same capacity today which, for the golf business, is simply unbelievable.
The pros they had in the past didn’t get along too well with the ladies club. Gerry was good with them but it seemed that I ended up with the Tuesday morning shift more often than the other guys. That was fine with me, the ladies club was odd at times but overall I loved the shift. I always made a big deal when any of them came in the shop and we had fun.
There was one lady in particular who took to me. Her name was Doris Davis and she had to be close to 80 years old when I worked there. She had a problem with one of the pros before me so she didn’t come into the pro shop much until the Tuesday morning shift was mine. Like a lot of the other ladies, every time she came in, I’d give her a big hello and a little hug, she loved it.
One year, I think it was 1988, we got to talking about Thanksgiving and I told her I always wanted to make pumpkin pie from scratch. Buy some pumpkins, boil them up and make pies. She lit up and said she had a great pumpkin pie recipe that would work and would I like it. I said that I would and she brought it in the next day. That was 20 years ago.
A Simple Pumpkin Pie
I thought, as Thanksgiving is right around the corner, that I’d share this recipe that I’ve been using somewhat consistently for the last 20 years. It’s popular in my family and everyone seems to enjoy it. I sold one at a Rotary Club of Roseville charity auction for $32. The guy later came back and said it was one of the best he’d ever had. I thought he was just being nice.
The only thing not simple about the reciepe is the pumpkin. The last couple of years, I’ve been going to Newcastle Produce and buying baking pumpkins. They are smaller, the meat is sweeter and they aren’t stringy. They do make a difference over regular jack o lantern type pumpkins.
What you do is take on of these pumpkins, clean it up and peel it like a potato. Cut it up and put it into a pot of boiling water just the same as you would if you were making mashed potatoes from scratch. The pumpkin is ready, like potatoes, when it falls apart when trying to slice it with a fork. Then I put the pumpkin in a large bowl and with a hand mixer, mash it up until smooth. It takes about one to one and a half small pumpkins to produce the two cups of raw meat that you’ll need for the pie.
Here’s the basic recipe:
- 2 cups of raw pumpkin
- 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.
My grandmother taught me to be creative when I cook. My mother was the same way. I tweek the spices some to come up with just the right flavor. I don’t always just stay with what the recipe says. I’ve made so many of these that now I add a little more of this and some of that.
I’ve put a little vanilla extract in it or more cinamon and nutmeg and less ginger. Ginger tends to be pretty strong so be careful with adding too much. Spice to taste. Make one on Monday, test it and tweek. That’s what I do.
I hope you like this as much as I do. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. If you have suggestions about this just leave a comment. I’d love to hear if you’ve got a tweek for the recipe.
