Butternut Squash Pie

The American Pie Council's 2012 Great American Pie Festival® sponsored by Crisco® will be held at Lakeside Park, Celebration, Florida Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29. It is an event that our family looks forward to every year. Features include a kids area that my daughters love! At various stations they get to decorate a pie crust, make a pie, play on inflatables and participate in a pie eating contest.

My favorite is the Never Ending Pie Buffet where you can sample every kind of pie imaginable! Admission to the festival is free however tickets to the pie buffet are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and kids 5 and under.

In anticipation of this years festival I am going to be featuring pies on my blog over the next week. I plan to include sweet and savory pies - all family favorites. At the end of the week there will be a giveaway for a family 4 pack of tickets to the Never Ending Pie Buffet. So, if you are going to be in the Orlando area that weekend stay tuned....

Last week I made that really yummy crab bisque which used about 1/2 of a 2 lb butternut squash. Needing something to do with the rest is what prompted the first of my pie posts. So here it is:

Butternut Squash Pie (tastes just like pumpkin pie)

1 single pie crust, your favorite recipe or refrigerated
1 lb peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash (around 3 cups of 1/2 inch cubes)
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
Whipped cream

Preheat oven to 400. Melt butter in a casserole. Add squash to casserole and toss with the butter. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes until the squash is tender and starting to caramelize.





While the squash is baking prepare a crust for a single crust pie. Here my daughters are decorating it with little star cutouts from the scraps:



Chill the crust while making the filling. After the squash is cooked mash it and set it aside to cool. Beat together the sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick and pale yellow. Add the milk, spices, salt and mashed squash. Mix until blended.

Pour into crust and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 350 and continue baking 25 - 30 minutes until set. Chill well before serving with whipped cream.

Crab Bisque

Laughing is the best medicine in life so I do hope my very good friend does not take offense to this post. She was so excited as she got this great deal at the farmers market - 3 spaghetti squash for $5. Knowing I love spaghetti squash one was for me! She brought it to me and low and behold - it was butternut squash - not spaghetti squash! What are we going to do with 3 butternut squashes! Well the first thing is to make this fabulous soup. My parents made this for me when I visited. It is very rich and very good. Try it.



Adapted from Feasting on Fish by Louise Pickford

Crab Bisque
2 tblsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 tsp grated ginger root
12 ounces butternut squash
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 ounces crab claw meat
3 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon good medium sherry
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
fresh ground pepper
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a nonstick dutch oven. Add onion, celery and ginger. Saute 5 minutes. Peel and chop squash. Add to the pan and saute 5 minutes. Add wine and boil 3 minutes. Add crab, stock, sherry and ceyenne pepper. Cook 20 minutes. Puree soup in blender. Return to pan and heat. Add pepper to taste. Serve garnished generously with parmesan cheese.