A creative twist on a classic pumpkin pie recipe, this kabocha squash pie is flecked with chipotle chili powder, black pepper, and fresh ginger. Jump to recipe.
In the beginning, neither Brian nor I had grand ideas for parenthood. Honestly, it was a selfish endeavor for me – I wanted to see if I really could, you know, create another human. I also, somewhat mistakenly, saw pregnancy as a great opportunity to eat a lot of ice cream. Our daughter was an easy baby, especially once we’d made it through those first six weeks, and Brian and I settled in to parenthood rather effortlessly.
And things went along this way, with the usual ups and downs, until last year. That was when we realized that the skills required to nurture a big kid and help them become an upstanding person are pretty different from the ones you need to nurture a baby. It’s been a tough transition, with lots of instances of helping our oldest navigate her relationships with others, resolve conflicts, and right wrongs. These same things happen with littles, but the social web of interactions is so much more immediate. Also, there’s homework.
Lately, I’ve been trying to do my best, but with no idea how it’s going to turn out. There are a few tenets that get us through. We eat a family dinner just about every night, even if it’s random and cobbled together. We’ve also worked to create traditions. On Sundays, if we have fried chicken, we always toast to Mama E. We go apple picking in the fall. On Thanksgiving, we get a big turkey and have homemade pumpkin pie.
Actually, the homemade pumpkin pie’s kind of a big deal. My mom makes a beautiful pumpkin pie and this is no doubt where my love of the stuff stems from. But (sorry Mom!), hers is very much of her own time with a pre-made crust, condensed milk, and canned pumpkin. I take a lot of cues from her, but my version is always from scratch.
And the thing is, homemade pumpkin squash puree is no harder than roasting a pumpkin or squash. You can do it ahead, too. If you’re going with pumpkin, I like the smaller sugar pie variety that are bred for flavor. Most often though, I’ll opt for a butternut or kabocha. I usually go with an orange kabocha squash, which is similar in texture to butternut but with a bit more concentrated flavor. This time around, though, I tried a green kabocha. Its flesh is more yellow and dry than the orange kind, but it lent a wonderful subtlety to my favorite dessert of the season.
Because the texture of my kabocha squash pie was a bit more robust, I felt like it could stand up to a more unusual flavor profile, with fresh and ground ginger, plus a pinch of chili powder, and lots of black pepper. It’s still a quiet dessert, but one that’s pretty perfect after a big meal.
Stay tuned in the days to come as we roll out our Thanksgiving recipes. Earlier this week, we shared a grill-smoked turkey breast. In the archives, we’ve got this classic pumpkin pie made with sugar pie pumpkins and this lovely buttermilk one.
A creative twist on a classic pumpkin pie recipe, this kabocha squash pie is flecked with chipotle chili powder, black pepper, and ginger. Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.
- 1 large green or orange kabocha squash (I used green)
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- pinch sea salt
- water
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter , frozen
- 5 - 6 tablespoons ice water
- 1 cup heavy cream , divided
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups kabocha squash puree
- 3 eggs , room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh, finely grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , plus more for serving
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-
To make the kabocha squash puree, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the woody stem from the top and bottom of the kabocha. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff from the center. Rub squash all over with a small drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of sea salt.
-
Pour 3 tablespoons water in a rimmed baking sheet. Set the squash cut side down, cover tightly with foil, and slide into the oven. Bake until soft, roughly 50 – 60 minutes.
-
Set aside to cool, then scoop the soft squash out of the peel and into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher; for a smoother texture, puree with a food processor or stick blender.
-
To make the dough, In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and sea salt with a fork. Grate in the frozen stick of butter, rubbing butter into the flour with your fingertips until the flour has a crumbly texture. Drizzle in the ice water, mixing just until the dough mostly holds together. (If you’re new to homemade dough, you can always add more water –– just enough so the dough’s easy to work with.)
-
Dump dough out onto a section of plastic wrap, gather into a disc, and wrap tightly. Set in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
-
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a shallow 9-inch pie pan and set aside.
-
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a 12-inch disc. Set in the pie pan, trim excess dough from the edge, and crimp the edges. Pierce all over with a fork.
-
Carefully set a sheet of foil onto the dough, and add either dried beans, rice, or pie weights.
-
Set on a rimmed baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, lift out the foil with weights, and bake for another 5 – 7 minutes.
-
Set aside to cool while you prepare the filling (but keep the oven at 375 degrees F).
-
To make the filling, in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium-low heat, whisk together the flour and 1/4 cup of the cream. When mixture starts to bubble and thicken, slowly whisk in the remaining 3/4 cup cream. Continue whisking until mixture begins to bubble and thicken once again, 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
-
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine kabocha puree and eggs until light and frothy. Whisk in the sugar, spices, and sea salt. Whisk the cream mixture into the squash mixture.
-
Carefully pour filling into the pie shell. Sprinkle a pinch of ground black pepper over the top. Set on a rimmed baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake until all but a 4-inch circle in the center of the pie is set, 45 – 55 minutes. If the crust starts to darken too much, shield the edge with foil.
-
Allow pie to cool completely, several hours or more, before serving. Serve slices with twist of pepper and a dollop of very lightly sweetened whipped cream.
SaveSave
Hey there Elizabeth, oh my isn’t parenting humbling? Whenever I get to the point where I feel grounded and confident in my role, the kids enter a new phase or a new challenge comes up and I have to dig deep once again to find my bearings.
But you look like you’ve got this kabocha pie thing dialed in. You can solace in that triumph:)
xoxo to you and yours,
E
P.S. I LOVE your plates. What’s the scoop with them?
Thanks for sharing your experience, Erin. It’s so funny how many resources there are for babies, I guess because they’re all pretty similar? Now that I’m in to big kid territory, I feel a little lost. The challenges just don’t end, I guess. Glad to have friends like you to lean on.
And thanks for the pie love! Those pretty plates are from Anthropologie, and yeah, I really love ’em. Cheers and very happy holidays to your clan out there in gorgeous CA.
xoxoxo
Shanna from Food Love Writing got me hooked on kabocha squash for pie a few years ago and it makes my favorite pie. Your adventurous add-ins sound wonderful!
Yes to how parenting changes as they get older! I think sometimes that mat leave should be in reverse – they need MORE of us as they hit elementary school and then tweens, let alone teenagers.
And that regular time for meals – it’s priceless. I walk our daughter to and from school every day too – many lovely conversations. Some funny, some profound, some silly – all good.
this is a thing of beauty, and those plates!
I know what you mean by adapting a fantastic recipe from mom’s time to our own. I’m amazed how so many of my fondly-remembered childhood foods were not made from scratch, or were made using processed foods that I don’t eat now.
i love that you described it as a quiet dessert. that appeals to me in a way most desserts just don’t.
and there’s just something so evocative about your photography (which is also, in its own beautiful way, quiet). these photos remind me of the feeling of my grandma fixing me sandwiches when i was a kid riding my bike around the neighborhood, stopping at her house for a visit.
ah gosh with the tears. i don’t think i’ve ever cried from looking at pictures of pie and reading words on a blog before. you do a special thing.
Thanks for this, Jaime. (I don’t think *I’ve* ever gotten teary checking my email at a red light before, and your heartfelt words are taking their place at the very top of my blog comment hall of fame.)
I have similar memories of my own grandmother’s house, the funny sunken kitchen with its layers of linoleum and the exact texture of the sidewalks around her place where I’d ride my own bike and wave to the elderly neighbors. It’s moving to think about how special something as common as a sandwich can be, and you say a lot here about the moments that truly, deeply matter in the big swirl of it all.
This is spectacular. That is all :))
I may make this to celebrate Thanksgiving right along with you. I didn’t get enough pumpkin pie over our holiday last month. Gorgeous.
Pepper?!? COOL!! This looks awesome!
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be responsible for another person, let alone once they get older and start having their own challenges. I think you’re doing all the right things so; I’m pretty sure that eating dinner together is one of the glues that holds families together. I love this take on a classic pie too; the black pepper sounds like an inspired addition.
No evaporated milk in this recipe, yay! I’ve never had pumpkin pie and have been dying to make one but most recipes call for evaporated milk which isn’t available here in Scandinavia, and I’ve been wondering about a proper substitution (some say heavy cream, some say single cream, some say half-and-half, arghh…). Love your take on the classic!
I am now a granny but still have vivid memories of holidays past. I was a young mother in the” make everything from scratch or you are not a capable hippy era”. Ah the pressure of those laid back days of yore…
The take away is that I have wrestled with many a pumpkin pie.
I love this recipe and the squash will make a more predictable filling. The spices sing to me and I cannot wait to make it. Thank you for sharing this recipe and your stories about Mothering and cooking. Some of my best memories are about life in the kitchen with my children. Now they are in the kitchen with their children and the cycle continues.
I salute you younger women who don’t take the easy way out and lovingly create your own kitchen legacy. Your children will better for it.
Happy Holiday cooking!
Kabocha is one of my favorite squash (second only to delicata) so I love the idea of using it to make a pie!
In regards to parenting…well I have little input there. My boyfriend and I were literally just discussing how we are planning on continuing to wait several more years…I’m totally not ready to stop being so selfish.
What a delicious recipe! We don’t celebrate t-giving in Australia but the food always looks AMAZING.
Until I read the comments I did not realize that this was meant as a dessert! I would make it without the crust, coconut milk instead of cream and no sugar, or maybe a pinch of stevia, and as a main course.
Love the recipe and love the plates- would you mind telling me where to find them please?
Best, z
Thanks Zoe! The plates are from Anthropologie. Looked for the link, but maybe they don’t carry them any more?
The pepper made this the special “pumpkin” pie recipe I’ve been looking for. Thanks
Do you add any water to the squash when you puree it ? I have leftover Kabocha flesh from a soup recipe in the fridge and it seems a little too thick to get a good puree. Any suggestions?
I think it’s fine and even preferable if it’s on the thick side. I don’t mind texture, but if you want it very smooth, maybe send it through the food processor? I wouldn’t think you need to add water, but if you do, I’d do it a tablespoon at a time. Thanks for checking out the recipe!
I ended up just adding a little water and using a potato masher and it turned out wonderful! Luckily no one else in my family but my son will eat anything remotely spicy so we had it all to ourselves!