We went to the restaurant on post for a Thanksgiving buffet yesterday. The food was pretty good but there were some of our traditional foods that were missing, also the desserts left a lot to be desired. We were in the second seating and by the time were got to the dessert table all that was left was still-frozen pumpkin pie and various thaw-and-serve cakes. It isn't Thanksgiving to me unless the meal finishes with some delicious, harvesty dessert. So being the proactive foodie that I am I went home and started researching desserts that I could make.There are so many kinds of pumpkin, apple or pecan pie out there it was quite overwhelming. I have almost settled on a caramel apple pie when I found this recipe on saveur.com and it looked so good I decided to give it a shot. It's got apple, squash (because who makes pumpkin pie with pumpkins anyway) and pecans all rolled up in puff pastry; in a way its like all three traditional pumpkin pies rolled into one.
Start with 3 lbs of squash (I used kabocha at the suggestion of the original recipe however next time I might try something like a butternut or a pie pumpkin.) and 2 granny smith apples. Peel, core and dice everything. Melt 6 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet and add squash and apple. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar and seasoning. I used vanilla, roughly 1 Tbsp, and some nutmeg, cinnamon and a dash of cloves. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until squash it VERY soft (mine was a little underdone, ... patience, patience, patience) and let cool. Once cool stir in 1/3 cup of chopped pecans
.Meanwhile roll out 2 sheets of puff pastry. The original recipe called for doing these next steps with the aid of a pastry ring. I, ever the planner, do not have a pastry ring as I discovered about 5 minutes before I would have needed one. So I improvised. I rolled the dough to roughly 12" squares, one slightly bigger than the other. Place the
larger one of these sheets onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. Then I piled my filling onto the center of the pastry sheet the spread into a 10 inch diameter circle. Place additional pastry sheet on top and seal the edges. Pull corners of square to meet at the top and brush whole thing with egg. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.Overall I was impressed with how it turned out. I thought the flavors were great. My only comment would be that the prep work was pretty intensive, dicing 3 lbs of squash was harder than I had anticipated.
Until next time. Eat. Drink. Enjoy.
