Many years ago, this pie recipe featured in an article written in The Sunday Times by Jan Oldham that reviewed a lunch bar called Kitchen Express that served wonderful home made pies, including this vegetarian one. The newspaper cutting has survived being tucked in various books and recipe files, being dribbled on and nearly set fire to. This week it has starred on Face book after I took it to a friends house for dinner so I thought it was time to pass it on. Perfectly timed for pumpkin season!
Kitchen Express Pumpkin Pie
 about 2kg Butternut pumpkin1 uncooked 9 inch pastry shell 2 eggs 1½ cup Cheddar cheese, grated ½ cup spring onions, chopped 2 Tbsp mixed fresh herbs 2 pinches nutmeg ½ tsp each,salt and pepper ½ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) 8 Black olives, pitted |
Preheat oven to 180C.
Deseed pumpkin. Cut into chunks and bake on an oiled oven tray till soft then peel and mash flesh.
If the skin is soft, you can mash the pieces in the food processor and retain all the nutrition that sits just below the skin. You should have about 4-6 cups of mashed pumpkin but the amount is not critical.
Bake pastry blind for a few minutes as per the instructions on the packet.
Mix pumpkin flesh with eggs, herbs, spring onions, nutmeg, salt and pepper and half the cheese.
Spoon filling into pastry and top with the remaining cheese. When making as individual pies, heap the pumpkin up like a little mountain before sprinkling with the pepitas.
Sprinkle with pepitas and arrange olives on top.
Bake for one hour in middle of oven for a large pie, 35-40 minutes for individual ones.
Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting a large pie so it can firm up.
TIP: Don't be shy with the fresh herbs, they are the secret to the success of this recipe. You can use basil, chives, sage, rosemary, parsley, celery leaf, marjoram, in any combination or your choice but do choose at least three different ones.
