Camacho Watcho

Just when you thought you had your Thanksgiving meal set, I put this post out there about my friend Kate’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. She describes it as one of the more involved pies she’s baked, but that it’s delicious and, perhaps, deserving to be called her new favorite.

Kate has a passion for baking pies. Her initial inspiration came from the movie Waitress. If you haven’t seen it, in the movie Keri Russell’s character is constantly baking pies. Since watching that movie, Kate is always trying new recipes. She regularly sends me photos (she lives in Atlanta so I have to be satisfied with eye candy only) and tells me about all the pies she’s tried. The photo above is courtesy of Kate.

Since I don’t do much baking, I thought I would share some of her kitchen adventures with you and have Kate guest-blog occasionally. In this post, she references a homemade crust, but we don’t get into it this time. Perhaps we’ll have to touch on that subject in an upcoming post. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Praline Pie

Fall is my favorite time of year to cozy up and bake pies so I was thrilled when Katie asked me to guest blog on her site. I started on this endeavor of learning the art of pie-making a few years ago when my son was born. My sister bought me a used copy of Pie by Ken Haedrich. I never would have imagined the number of pies that I would make from this bible for pie-makers. Haedrich has an amazing approach that makes even the most complex pie feel like something you can master in your own kitchen. The recipes are tried and tested and many of them are even tweaked from the original owner. The real gem of this book, however, comes from the pages and pages of techniques and ingredient secrets.

With my mother-in-law’s birthday approaching, I asked her for her pie request. She immediately said that pumpkin pie was her favorite. So I thought about that and made a few decisions right from the start. 1. I would make it with real sugar pumpkins and 2. I would have to find something that was special…no regular pumpkin pie that you whip up last minute before Thanksgiving.

I opened up my favorite Pie book in search of the perfect pumpkin pie and, I dare say, I might have found it in Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. Haedrich took this particular recipe from a cook and cookbook author in California named Diane Rossen Worthington. In introducing it, he was quick to point out that there are two kinds of pumpkin pie. The kind for pumpkin pie purists “bereft of fanfare and flourishes” and the kind that really wow a crowd because they are so over-the-top. I’m guessing you know which category this pie falls into.

I spent the first day preparing my crust – a basic flaky pie crust that I have made dozens of times and could do in my sleep. Next it was time to learn how to roast my adorable little sugar pumpkins that I picked up from Berry Patch Farms, my local pumpkin patch. It is amazing how simple it is to create fresh pumpkin puree for pie-making. Simply place the clean halves of the pumpkins facing up or down and roast them at 375 degrees with a little water in the bottom of the pan. After 50 minutes you will have soft fleshy pumpkin that is falling from the skin. A good tip is to wait and let it cool before scooping it out.

Day two of the Pumpkin Praline Pie was to roll out my crust and create this beautiful pie. This is really a three part pie, so as someone who loves the art and process of pie – making it is a fun project. It involves pre-baking the crust, baking the pumpkin pie and broiling the praline as the finishing touch. After a long day in the kitchen I sat and looked at my pie hoping that perhaps this pumpkin pie would change my mind about pumpkin pie, which I usually do not prefer…it did not disappoint.

Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie
From Pie by Ken Haedrich

1 single pie crust (homemade please!)

Filling
3 large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 ¾ cup fresh pumpkin puree or 15oz of canned puree
¼ cup light cream or half and half
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp bourbon or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Praline Topping
1 ¼ cups chopped pecans
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp heavy or whipping cream
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Garnish
Fresh Whipped Cream (I added 2 tsp of pumpkin spice for every ½ cup of whipped cream and it was the perfect addition to this pie)

Prepare pastry and refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling it out.

Roll out pastry into 13 inch circle on a lightly floured piece of wax paper. Invert over a 9 ½ inch deep dish pie pan. Carefully pull off the wax paper and tuck the pastry into the pan. With your hands form an upstanding ridge. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Prebake your pie crust by placing a piece of foil over the crust and tuck it in so that it is a second shell but leave top of foil like wings so that you can easily grab them. Fill the foil with dried beans or pie beads (if you are fancy!) Place in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Slide rack out and remove foil with beans. Prick the crust with a fork all over and twist slightly to enlarge the holes. Lower oven temp to 375 degrees and continue baking 10-12 minutes. The crust might pull a little or bubble. Prick the bubbles with fork and use back of spoon to push the crust gently back to the pie pan. Let cool. Lower oven temp to 350 degree.

Combine eggs and sugar in large bowl. Using mixer beat on high speed until light and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Add the pumpkin, light cream, salt, spices and bourbon. Blend on low speed until evenly mixed. Pour filling into cooled pie shell.

Place pie on center oven rack for 20 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pie 180 degrees then continue to bake 40-45 minutes until filling is set. When done, the perimeter of the pie will have puffed slightly. Also the center will look a little glossy. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.

Preheat broiler and adjust one of the oven racks so that it is 6-8 inches away from the broiler. Combine all praline toppings and scrape over cooled pie evenly. Place pie on the oven rack and let bake until melted and bubbly. This whole process will take about a minute and you should rotate the pie as it is broiling. Do NOT walk away! Transfer to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with fresh whipped cream (see note above). You can also add some pecan halves for show as a finishing touch on top. Just press into the warm praline.

Years ago we started a tradition for Valentine’s Day – instead of going out to dinner on one of the busiest nights of year, Kyle decided that he would take on the kitchen and cook me dinner. He is a very good cook and accomplishes complicated, beautiful recipes.

The first year he pulled out all the stops…a complete menu that was featured on Kare11 as a Valentine’s special, complete with heart-shaped croutons floating in my soup and a chicken wrapped in phyllo dough with phyllo hearts baked on top. It was quite the standard to set.

This tradition has continued with new recipes each year. Last year was a banner year with the most amazing recipes that I continue to crave. The Filet Mignon with Chipotle Gorgonzola Cream Sauce is a winner that has become a favorite by everyone who eats it. It was served with this simple, but very satisfying, salad with arugula, Kalamata olives, crispy pancetta, parmesan and lemon juice. (I really shouldn’t write about food when I’m hungry…my stomach is now growling just thinking about that meal!)

Needless to say, I look forward to Valentine’s Day to find out what the menu will consist of and to be a visitor in my own kitchen. I wish I could say that I just sit back and relax, but I just can’t chill like that in the kitchen. Kyle’s a really great sport about my questioning his every move “are you sure you need that much salt?” “is that what the recipe said to do?” Honestly, I’m a tough customer. He just shrugs me off, pours me more wine, and continues on with the recipe.

This year, the menu was fantastic, seasonal and made with local ingredients (yeah!). It consisted of whole roasted chicken with rosemary and garlic, potato and turnip gratin, frisee salad with dijon vinaigrette and for dessert…..drumroll, please…..creme brulee. Yes, a very manly torch was used to make the creme brulee (which I think is the sole reason that Kyle wanted to make it). Regardless…yum!

Straight from our Minnesota State Fair binge, we went to our Cooking Club on Friday night. The menu was set by RJ and Katie – a good old fashioned seafood boil! The ingredients for the boil were crab legs, shrimp, andoullie sausage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and corn. The accompaniments to round out the menu were cole slaw, cornbread and semifreddo for dessert.

Seafood boils are a ton of fun! You get a big ‘ol pot of water, add plenty of seasoning and then boil the ingredients…voila! RJ and Katie have a huge pot and propane stand made especially for this type of thing, but we ended up bringing it inside and putting the pot on the stove to speed up the boiling process. Nevertheless, it worked great!


One of the best things about a seafood boil is that it is just plain messy. Between cracking the crab legs open, dipping the meat in melted butter and the eating the corn, you end up with greasy, yummy fingers…and no one cares! You can choose to use silverware for the potatoes, carrots and sausage, but everything is cut bite size anyway, so you also have the choice to just eat with your hands. Which is exactly what I did. Sitting outside on a warm August night while eating a messy seafood boil was just perfect.

Kyle and I were in charge of making the dessert, a lemon semifreddo with summer berries. It was a lot of fun to make and, wow, was it good! Light and airy, with just a bit of tartiness…yum! I would definitely make it again!

I’m in love with the book Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, an inspiring and true story of Alice Waters and her dream for a sustainable, food-conscious world. I just finished it today, to which my husband said, “now can you get on with life?” Honestly, it’s that addicting. What I love about it, is that it doesn’t focus on what we are doing wrong with food, it focuses on celebrating fresh, local ingredients to create and experience the loveliest of food. I like that.

Within the book that are several “narrative recipes” of the food they cook at Chez Panisse. While reading yesterday, there was a wonderful recipe for Lindsey’s Fruit Galette. It called for a crust (albeit to be true to the Alice Waters way of doing things, it would be a fresh made crust), sugar, flour and fruit. I just happened to have a pie crust in my refrigerator and three spendidly ripened peaches that my grandma had given me the day before. I was compelled to bake.

Peach Galette
From Lindsey Shere’s narrative in the book
Place the pie crust on a cookie sheet. Mix 2 TBSP sugar and 2 TBSP flour in a small bowl and then spread this over the crust (leaving a 2 inch border). Peel and slice the peaches and then scatter these (they don’t have to be put in a fancy design) on top of the flour and sugar. Sprinkle the top of this with sugar (you’ll need to use a moderate amount). Fold the edges of the dough up over the fruit and then brush the folded over edges heavily with water. Sprinkle these edges really heavily with sugar. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, until the crust is browned and the fruit is bubbling. Then remove from the oven and transfer immediately to a rack to cool. Take a pastry brush and spread the fruit juices on top of the fruit quickly. Enjoy!

Kyle and I had this for dessert for the last two nights. Last night, when we first served it up, we both took a piece and finished it. Then we immediately went for seconds. It was that good! You can make this with nectarines, plums, apples, pears…you just need to adjust the amount of sugar you sprinkle on top of the fruit. It’s delicious!