Koginut Pie by Sarah Sanneh

BY SARAH SANNEH, PIES 'N' THIGHS (BROOKLYN, NY)

Roasted Koginut squash paired with housemade condensed milk—worth making yourself—yields a rich, creamy, silky and supremely squashy pie.

INGREDIENTS

1 Koginut squash, weighing about 2 pounds
10 ounces sweetened condensed milk (recipe below)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 pre-baked pie crust (recipe below)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cut off the stem and then cut the squash in half, top to bottom. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds.

Lay the squash onto the cookie sheet, cut-side down, and roast for about 45 minutes or until tender. Let cool slightly and scoop the flesh from the skins. This should yield about one pound.

Reduce oven temperature to 325˚F. While scooped squash is still quite hot, blend with condensed milk, eggs, vanilla extract and salt in a food processor until smooth.

Pour into pre-baked crust (recipe below) and bake for 30 minutes or until filling just barely wiggles. It will finish cooking as it cools.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

INGREDIENTS

1 quart milk
¾ cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients into a large pot tall enough to avoid the risk of boiling over.

Cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Milk will at first bubble up, then begin to cook down, sticking to the sides of the pot. Cook for about 60 minutes or until it is tan and thickened.

Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS

2⅔ cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, cubed and frozen, coated with 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
½ cup + 1 tablespoon ice water
1 egg, beaten + 1 tablespoon milk (for egg wash)

DIRECTIONS

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.

Add the frozen, flour-coated butter to the bowl of a food processor, along with 1 cup of the flour-sugar-salt mix and pulse to process. The resulting mixture should resemble small pebbles that do not stick together.

Pour the pebbly mix back into the remaining dry ingredient mix and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Pour ice water into the butter/dry ingredients mixture. It should be barely hydrated and need a little force to come together.

Form into two equal sized balls, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap, then flatten into discs.

Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Take one disc and roll it around on its sides, smoothing it out, before unwrapping the plastic wrap. Dust a work table with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle an inch bigger than the pie pan. Lay the dough in the pan and fold the overhang dough underneath itself, creating a tucked or crimped edge.

The rolled pie shell can be kept for later use by wrapping it tightly in plastic and storing it in the freezer, defrosting in the refrigerator overnight before use. If using right away, let it rest again in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Brush the edge of the dough with the prepared egg wash. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or other pie weights.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and finish for 5 minutes.