Preparation

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  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, or 180 degrees fan oven. Grease a 22cm flan tin with a loose bottom.
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  2. To make the pastry, sieve the flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Cut the cold butter into very small pieces, or grate it, add it to the flour and rub in well until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and stir in. Beat the yolk of
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  you may not need all of the water. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
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  3. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to line the prepared tin. Prick the bottom of the pastry, or use baking beans, and bake for about 25 minutes before removing from the oven.
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  4. Remove the tough skin and the seeds from the pumpkin, then chop it into chunks. Steam for 15-20 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and tender. Pulse in a blender until smooth, then press through a sieve into a bowl to make a puree.
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  5. To make the filling, add the sugar, cinnamon, ginger and allspice to the pumpkin, along with a few gratings of the nutmeg, and mix well together. If you don’t have whole nutmeg, use a half to one teaspoon of ground nutmeg instead. Whisk the eggs i
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  6. Pour the mixture in to fill the pastry case then bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, until the top is a lovely orangey brown and the filling has set. Allow to cool before removing from the tin. Dust the top with icing sugar, mixed wit
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  Notes:
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  If you can’t find pumpkin, butternut squash works well instead. Some recipes suggest roasting the pumpkin rather than steaming.
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  You could replace some of the sugar with maple syrup.
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  I like the flavour of the pie using evaporated milk, but you could try using cream or whole milk instead.
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  You could fill a ready-made pastry case instead of making your own, although I think homemade pastry always tastes better if you have the time.