When is it necessary to put foil over a pie's crust?

Question

In the past, when I have made pumpkin pie, I have never put foil around the edge of the crust of the pie. Yesterday, I baked a pie with someone else, and they insisted that the foil was necessary to prevent the pie crust from burning. I have noticed the a lot of recipes for pies other than pumpkin (frequently covered pies like strawberry-rhubarb) explicitly call for aluminum foil on the crust.

When does a pie crust need to be covered in foil while baking?

Answer

Generally speaking, when the length of the cooking time required to cook the filling correctly is such that the crust would burn if it wasn't covered.

It is usually more necessary when you have blind-baked the crust, but I must say I've cooked a lot of pies in my time and never covered the crust because I'm always careful to par-bake the crust just enough to seal it and no more.

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Can I substitute store-bought puff pastry dough for phyllo in pumpkin pastry?

Question

I want to make a pumpkin filled pastry for a potluck thanksgiving. I found a great recipe for pumpkin & feta pastries, but it calls for filo/phyllo dough. Can I use puff pastry dough instead, to make it more 'turnover-like'? If so, how will it alter the preparation?

Answer

Looking at this recipe I don't see any reason why you couldn't use puff pastry as the container.

The only ways that the preparation would be different is:
puff pastry doesn't dry out as fast as filo so you don't have to worry about the wet towel in the instructions.
You wouldn't want to do multiple layers of puff pastry as the recipe calls for. You would just form a single pouch to hold your filling and seal it well.

Know that the texture will be different of course. The filo will be a bit more crisp and the layers larger and more distinct- filo is also a lot more work. You may find that the baking time needs to be adjusted a little but I don't think it will be very different if at all. Cook them until they're golden using the recipe's time as a starting point.

This recipe is in a Mediterranean style and filo would be more traditional but puff pastry would produce something tasty.

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Hulling pumpkin seeds - Possible? Easy?

Question

I have a recipe I want to use that calls for "hulled pumpkin seeds (the green ones)". I have pumpkin seeds saved from carving pumpkins. Do I just... peel them? Any fast way to do this? Is there any other preperation needed?

Answer

Describing the only method I know, and hoping that somebody will come up with an improvement, because this one is quite time-consuming.

First, clean your pumpkin seeds and toast them. They cling to the hull when they are raw. When toasting, it is preferable to use lowish temperature for a long time, so you can prevent strong taste changes and burning. If I remember correctly, it is also a good idea to let them cool them first, because they are more likely to break when hot, but

When the seeds are ready, you want to pop them out of the shell. For this, hold a seed between your thumb and index finger. Apply pressure to the most prominent parts of the edge.

Ideally, the pointed part of the hull will split along the edge, and the seed will fall out, or you will be able to squeeze it out. Even if it goes like that seed after, it is a slow, monotonous work. Often, the hull will refuse to split, or the seed will break within the hull, or it will cling to the hull and refuse to come out after it has split. And then there is no guarantee that you'll get the beautiful plump seeds you see in the supermarket, because carving pumpkins aren't bred for nice seeds, it can happen that yours are very small and thin and not a particularly good decoration.

Conclusion: it is possible, but even if I had the seeds sitting around, I'd throw them out (or feed them to birds outside) and get hulled seeds for cooking, instead of spending half a day to get a handful of seeds out of their hulls. If it doesn't bother you, or if you can find a more efficient method, feel free to do it and share your process improvements here.

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Possible Pumpkin Flavors

Question

I am hoping to try out cooking with pumpkin this year and only know a) not to buy jack-o-lantern varieties for cooking, and b) about making it into sweeter things like pies, cakes, cookies et cetera. I have seen recipes for roasting seeds and flavoring them to make them spicy (add red pepper, who'd have thought?), but I don't know what options I have as far as using the flesh/ground pumpkin to head more toward a savory dish. [Please note, I am particularly interested in vegan approaches, though all methods are welcome.]

• Are there particular varieties better for making savory dishes?
• What flavor spectrum does the pumpkin (raw, roasted...) lend itself toward naturally or without much force? How do you coax those out?

Answer

There are terrific Thai pumpkin curries; the flavor profile would be garlic, ginger, lemongrass, coriander seed, cilantro, chiles, Thai basil. Here is one I did with Delicata squash that would work equally well with pumpkin: http://www.herbivoracious.com/2009/10/red-curry-delicata-squash-and-tofu-recipe.html .

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