Mommy's Easy Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is a traditional desert made for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It tastes good and it makes the whole house smell warm and spicy.  My mom makes the most amazing pumpkin pie ever and surprisingly, it's super easy to make!  You don't need a million bowls and spoons and the cleanup is fast - all you need is a good blender. 

I always make my pastry a head of time and refridgerate it - for this recipe you will need two 9 inch pie pastries.  No top crusts necessary :)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups of mashed pure pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all these ingredients in a blender until you have a well mixed liquid batter.

Fill your pie shells at the oven - right on the rack if possible!  Pour carefully straight from the blender for a neat looking pie.  Try not to spill or splatter on the crust.

Bake your pies for 40-50 minutes until they begin to brown just a little in the centre. 

Allow your pies to cool at least an hour before cutting slices.  The longer you let the pie to settle, the better the slices will hold their shape.  Serve your pie with whipped cream topping!

Cauliflower Fritters or Frittelli Di Cavolfiore

So, I've been meaning to blog since August and obviously haven't made the time to do so.  In the meantime I have been taking foodie pictures and writing down all my recipes so that I can share them on my blog.

Here is a snack or appetiser that my Nonna makes all the time.  Some people call them frittelli, but for some reason, my family calls them pitwelli.  I don't know where this came from, but we use the word pitwelli to refer to any sort of fritter.  We make pitwelli out of spinach, broccoli, and most often - cauliflower!  Just substitute the cauliflower to make your own variety.

Boil 1/2 a cauliflower, strain and let cool.  Mash it and add a pinch of salt.

Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of milk and grate approximately 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese into the bowl.  Stir. 

Add about 1 and 1/2 cups of flour or enough that it has an oatmeal-like consistency.  At this point you can add some optional ingredients such as a bit of fresh chopped parsley or chives.

Pour a little vegetable oil into a pan and heat it on medium heat.  Add the mixture by tablespoon full into the pan and fry them a couple minutes on both sides until golden brown.

Let your pitwelli cool off a bit and eat them as soon as possible!  Pitwelli should be eaten warm as a pre-meal snack, since they are too good to resist and they never make it to the table anyways.  Yum...!