Thanksgiving to the pumpkin

Born in France, I first encountered pumpkin in soups. Brought to our shores by the Portuguese in the Sixteenth century, it was not fully integrated in the French culture except in this form. As no romantic link to Cinderella was made obvious at the time - there was no such nicety as serving it in the skin of the pumpkin- it left me at best indifferent. The skill of the cook or the type of squash might have been the culprit. For my pumpkin-apple soup as in my previous December 13th 2008 pumpkin soup, I prefer to use an acorn of the pumpkin (cucurbita pepo) family associated to a butternut squash (cucurbita moschata). The latter’s flesh firm, sweet and tasty is the only one I would use in a pie. My second encounter with a pumpkin concoction in its native land was much more satisfactory. I however object to the canned purée with which it most often starts. I like a little chew in my sweets. Keeping the fruit and vegetable cubed and caramelizing them together, tatin style, is the solution. The savory dish was the inspiration behind the sweet one. Apples and squashes combine well and provide just the right sweetness in both recipes. Cinnamon is the spice most often associated with apples and is featured in the pie as in the soup. Ginger provides the tart with the tang cayenne pepper gave to the starter. The pumpkin seeds offer crunch in one case, the walnuts in the other.
The soup serves 4, the pie 8.

Pumpkin-Apple soup
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes, cheap)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
1 onion
1 apple
1 pinch ground cinnamon
2 pinch red pepper flakes or Cayenne

Material:
4-quart saucepan
Wooden saucepan
Potato peeler
Grapefruit spoon
Blender

Peel the onion and slice it thinly. Pour the olive oil in the saucepan. Set it over low gas and soften the onion for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Peel the butternut and the acorn squash. Cut in halves and remove the seeds with a grapefruit spoon. Wash the seeds separated from any pumpkin flesh in a strainer. Leave to dry.
Add the pumpkin flesh cubed to the onions, cover with a cup of water (220 ml) and simmer for twenty minutes. Add the peeled and cored apple and the spices after 10 minutes.
Blend well until the soup is smooth and creamy. Return the soup to the saucepan and bring to a low simmer before serving.
Stir-fry the seeds with a pinch of red pepper flakes in a frying pan for a couple of minutes. Serve on top of the soup.

Pumpkin-Apple pie
(Easy, preparation and cooking time: 75 minutes largely unattended, Cheap)
Ingredients
2 recipes for sweet pastry dough (February 27th, 2009) unfrozen in the refrigerator 12 hours ahead and additional flour to roll out the pastry
2 small butternut squashes
1 large Fuji apples
½ cup (118g) walnuts broken in pieces
½ cup sugar (118g) plus additional sugar to sprinkle on top of the pastry
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter plus one (50g) melted tablespoon to brush on the topcoat of the pastry
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Material
1 9-inch (30 cm) pie mold
1 large non-stick skillet
Wooden spoon
Potato peeler
Grapefruit spoon
Parchment paper
Rolling pin

Peel and core the apples and pumpkin. Cut them in small 1-inch cube. Place them in a salad bowl and sprinkle the crystallized sugar on top. Toss well to coat evenly. Save the pumpkin seeds to toast them. Place the walnut in a plastic bag and run the rolling pan over the closed bag to break them.
Place the non-stick skillet over the low-range of the gas. Add the butter. When it is melted, add the sugarcoated apple and pumpkin cubes. Cook stirring until the cubes are tender and lightly caramelized. Add the spices. Return the fruit to the salad bowl to cool.
Preheat the oven at 425F (215C)
Butter and flour the mold
Divide out the dough in two portions, one slightly larger than the other one. Roll them out separately on a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with flour.
Place the larger pastry sheet in the buttered mold. Pour the fruit walnut on top. Add the fruit. Set the second pastry sheet on top, closing the two pastry sheets together by pinching the sides. Create a few slits with a knife and paint the melted butter on top. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350F (180C) and cook for another 30 minutes.
Serve warm a la mode.