Pumpkin Pies

This is the first recipe out of this book that I ever cooked, before it was even in this book! I made it straight from the Donna Hay magazine as I've always wanted to try it, so I thought the best way to try something is to make it.

It took me aaaaaages. I had barely worked with pastry before and was very fiddly with it, trying to finesse the edging and make it as smooth as possible. I like the instructions to 'place on a baking tray THEN pour in the pumpkin mixture' before baking. Best instructions ever, as I couldn't imagine trying to handle it when ready to be cooked. Just my luck I'd trip.

I loved the taste, the natural sweetness from the butternut pumpkin accentuated by the maple syrup. It's no wonder it's such a popular pie, in America. It should be more popular here. Just so I can eat more of it.

Excuse the dodgy photo, it was take quite a few years ago....

Also, I clearly remember taking some over to my family and them asking me, Do you eat it for dinner, or dessert? Maybe I should have told them it was a Pumpkin Tart or something a bit more sweet sounding. 

Pumpkin, Spinach and Goats Cheese Pie

I've been looking forward to making this pie for a while now. I love all of these flavor combinations together and wrapped in pastry is a nice crunch heaven compared to the softness of the roast pumpkin and smooth cheese. 

The main vegetables are roasted first then piled onto some good store-bought puff before being topped with spinach and goats cheese. Good luck buying goats cheese in Dysart. I used a good Feta instead. 

Tasting the vegetables after roasting them they tasted awesome. It's amazing what oil and seasoning can do to some pumpkin. But something seemed to go wrong between that roasting and when the pie was finished... The cut pie slice tasted...bland. There was no sweetness from the pumpkin or tang from the feta. I thought about the pumpkin I used and wonder how old the vegetable was in the first place, and now I wonder if that impacted on the end result? Knowing the vegetables we get out here have mostly been frozen and are mostly in poor condition, I don't know how much that impacts on the flavor at the end of baking when half way through it tasted so good.

Or it could be the quantity? Not enough pumpkin maybe? Or a stronger tasting one might have been better? Either way, its a nice simple dish and definitely one I'm going to try again. I already know these flavors work well together, I just need to tweak it a bit...

Pumpkin and Feta Loaf

I'm not a bread maker. I think I've made bread a few times in total, so I'm not that good at it. But I am good at following a recipe...

My yeast was past its 'use by' date, so I wasn't sure if this loaf would actually work. To my pleasant surprise, it did! I really liked the way the onion and rosemary were processed with the wet ingredients, I found the mild onion taste through the bread really complimented the sweetness of the pumpkin. But a warning, buy cheap feta, and the feta will be...well....cheap. The local iga does sell better feta (say that out loud!) but for an extortionate price out here. I didn't expect the cheaper version to be so bad, but it was. Rubbery and quite tasteless. But I did enjoy the bread, so if I made it again, I'd splurge and buy the good quality stuff.

The only down side was cutting it the next day it became quite crumbly. Probably cos of my old yeast. Or my average cooking schools. But, even in crumbs, it still tasted nice.