when a pie is not a pie

for the past several months, i’ve been taking friday evenings off – it’s the end of the week, and i’m really feeling the sleep deprivation for that particular week. plus, i work the weekends, so essentially friday nights are my weekend. usually i find myself making dinner with mary, though at this point we’re fairly notorious for not actually eating until 10pm or later. by the time mary gets out of work and to central, it’s 7:30, and then we invariably go food shopping; we start cooking around 8:30 or 9…you get the point.

i’ve had a craving for pumpkin pie ever since fall really arrived – there’s just something so festive and seasonal about it. we never really ate pie growing up – cheesecake was our MO – and so now i love all kinds of pies: pumpkin, pecan, chocolate, custard, cream. and of course the best kind of pie is leftover pie – leftover pie for breakfast the next day.

anyway, i didn’t have the energy to make a regular pie crust by hand, so we did a cookie crust with my favorite gingersnaps. i often find that cookie crumb crusts are too insubstantial, and lack structure, falling apart at the mere proximity of a fork; instead, i made the pie in a tart pan, which had the unintended consequence of making this pie technically a tart. and in doing so, it unintentionally made it into a faux upscale sort of thing – a yuppie move if i ever saw one. it seems odd that a pie can become something totally different just by changing its shape a little bit – the difference was highlighted all the more by the strong associations i have between the nostalgia of pumpkin pie and its tradtional shape. it really begs the question of whether this pie is still a pie, even though it’s in a slightly different shape. i would say that there are fundamental differences between pies and tarts – pies are often more robust and homey, whereas tarts are more delicate and finessed. pies are all about functionality as a flavor delivery system, whereas tarts are more about presentation and display. i guess a pie topped with meringue has quite a bit of drama to it, especially when it’s slightly bruleed on its exterior with a butane torch, but there’s nothing like a tart for an OCD person to obsess over the arrangement of pieces of fruit. my verdict is probably that even though this pie is shaped like a tart, its filling doesn’t really change from one shape to the other, so really it’s still a pie.

despite the yuppie factor, this pie/tart is pretty excellent. out of sheer laziness i made the recipe on the back of the can – usually i use a cream-and-egg-based recipe from saveur – and upped the spices and ginger in particular. this pie is a bit on the sweet side, so a glass of cold milk or unsweetened whipped cream would be great accompaniments.
gingered pumpkin tart

for the crust
3 boxes of anna’s gingersnaps
1 to 1 1/4 sticks butter
1 egg white (optional)

for the filling
1 can pumpkin
scant 1c sugar
1 1/2t ground ginger
1/2t freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/2 to 2t cinnamon
2T crystallized ginger, minced fine
pinch kosher salt
2 eggs
1 12-oz can evaporated milk

1. preheat the oven to 350F. place the gingersnaps in the bowl of a food processor, coarsely breaking them up with your fingers as you take them out of the box. pulse until the cookies are completely ground up. (alternatively, put them in a large, heavy-duty ziploc bag and crush the cookies with a rolling pin or other heavy/solid implement – a wine bottle would be good, a drinking glass less so.) add the butter and pulse until the crumbs are saturated and slightly wet looking.

2. press the mixture into an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the crust has browned a little bit. you may want to use pie weights to keep the crust in place, as it may slip down the tart pan a little bit. if it does, though, you can also just press the crust back into place when you take it out of the oven (which i did, and recommend doing, anyway). let the crust cool while you make the filling. if you want the crust to stay crispier when you bake the filling into it, you can beat the egg white until foamy and brush the foam onto the crust right after you take the crust out (but after you reform it if necessary), while it’s still hot. the egg white will dry as the crust cools and seal it against the filling.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and sugar. add the spices, salt, and crystallized ginger and whisk to combine. whisk in the eggs one at a time, then slowly whisk in the evaporated milk. pour the filling into the crust and bake until the center is just set, about 45 minutes. you may have too much filling – just put the extra into a ramekin and bake alongside the tart. let the tart cool fully – you can eat it while it’s hot if you’re desperate for pie (just wait 15 minutes), but i think it’s better when it has cooled and set.

[serves about 10]