Harry Potter, Marta and the Pumpkin Pie - chill, it's Halloween!

Every month, Marta brings us a challenge of sorts on her blog with her ingredient of the month series. She chooses one ingredient and defys us to go and cook up something with that and bring to her table the results. Whenever I can, I try to participate, as it is the kind of thing that's right up my alley, really, if I'm given one ingredient I can choose an array of dishes to cook and I don't feel pressed into having to cook a certain particular something - I stress a lot, I know. October is for pumpkins, and frankly, I do cook a lot with pumpkins, and have a few signature dishes up my sleeve that I really love, like this stew, or this roast squash , or even this pumpkin risotto and this orechiette concotion that is to die for.

Although I have sent all those goodies to Marta's table  already, those are oldies, I posted them earlier on, not this month. It's not always that I get to post the recipe I wanted with the month's specific ingredient - I'm chaos when it comes to organizing myself and my time, and I get easily distracted by my characters and their ordeals, don't ask! - this month I really wanted to come through with it. Because it's October and October is my month, and it's Halloween and Halloween is my kinda party, and it's witches' night and I'm a kitchen witch, so I really had to cook a pumpkin dish for Halloween, hadn't I? Of course I had, I'd hate myself if I didn't.

I know it's a bit too obvious to dish out a pumpkin pie on Halloween, but bare with me on this one. I had an hokkaido lying around and I had promised my son he'd have a Halloween treat, to complement his Harry Potter costume - he looks just the darndest cutest little tyke ever!! - and because he was reading Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, and there's that chapter about Halloween and they eat pumpkin pies, he asked for one as he had never tried one before - or so he says, I think he's a bit forgetfull but whatever!! So I reserved the hokkaido for pumpkin pie, and I'm not a bit sorry I did. I mean, it's gonna be like he's at Hogwarts, sitting down in his robes for a slice of pie!! Silly me, but I do love to create a bit of fantasy in his life, nowadays children seem to grow up so fast and they don't have enough dream worlds and fantasy in their day to day.

So a pumpkin pie it was, and we cut out tiny pumpkins from the leftover dough only to make it look funny. This pie, I haven't baked this version for years, actually. The first year we moved into this house I baked this pumpkin pie for Halloween. We had decided we wanted to get pregnant and I was immersed in a world of fantasy, thinking up a dreamlike life where my kid would have homebaked pies and cakes and cookies, and where he would immerse himself in lore and legend and he would believe Santa Claus and the Great Pumpkin and the Easter Beagle, and he would love Harry Potter as much as I do, and we'd have fun celebrating every single holiday that appealed to us, like Halloween, yes, but also St. Patrick's, and others that have caught our imagination. I daydreamt that kind of life, and now looking at it, well, we have kind of managed to live just like that! This pie had huge ravings from a couple of friends who showed up that day, nearly ten years ago and had a slice or two, so I decided this was the one to go for!

Let me get you started, then:

For the crust:

• 155 gr flour
• 100 gr unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 2 tsp dark muscovado sugar
• 4 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk

For the filling:

• 2 eggs
• 185 gr dark muscovado sugar
• 500 gr pumpkin, cooked and at room temperature - I baked mine, but you can boil it. No, don't, please. Bake it.
• 80 ml cream
• 1 tsp cinammon, grounded
• 1/2 tsp allspice, grounded
• 1/2 tsp numeg, grounded
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• quince jelly for brushing after the pie's been baked

Start by baking your pumpkin and letting it cool. Scrape the flesh from the rind and reserve. Now turn on your oven at 180º. Sieve the flour onto your food processor, add the butter, the sugar, the egg and the vanilla extract and pulse until it combines. Add the water if it's too coarse and won't bind together. Bring it out onto a floured surface, roll it onto a ball and cover with parchement paper, taking it to the fridge for half an hour. After that time has elapsed, roll the dough between two sheets of parchement paper and spread it onto your pie dish. Use the leftover dough for decorations and keep it in the freezer. For the filling, mix the eggs and the sugar in a blender, add the pumpkin, the cream and the spices and blend well until you get a creamy mixture. Pour over the crust and decorate freely, then bake it in the oven for 40º. Once it's done, let it cool slightly before brushing the quince jelly over the top. Serve at room temperature, it's sooo good! Hand have yourselves a happy Halloween!