Two moms. Five daughters. Opposite ends of the globe.




Two moms. Five daughters. A friendship that spans opposite ends of the globe.



We have been best friends for ages with a shared love for good food. A desire of good health for ourselves and our families have lead us to exploring the paleo lifestyle together. Enjoy our adventure!



Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Kürbispastete (Pumpkin and Meat Pie)



I love pumpkin. And I love beef. Google those two ingredients and you'll find enough recipes to show lots of people like them together. And why not? Yum + yum = double yum, right? From Kaddo Bowrani (Afghani pumpkin) to Pumpkin Chili or Pumpkin sloppy joes... there are a lot of things to try. (My next experiment will be Sarah's meaty pumpkin soufflé in her book, "Everyday Paleo.") But my favorite pumpkin-beef recipe ever is kürbispastete. Kürbispastete is just German for deep dish pumpkin and meat pie. And the way I found this recipe was long ago, when Angie and I and several friends used to get together for dinner parties, we would always pick a theme. My husband swears that the best dinner we ever had was the night our dinner group picked german food, and I have to agree. For the occasion I bought a german cookbook off the bargain table at Border's. And paging thru that book is where I came across kürbispastete. Its not paleo on its own, but its not far off. First of all, it is a pie (crust) ...and the original recipe calls for grated cheese, cream, and butter... but just drop those 4 things and you still have a yummy dish. I frequently make my paleo version without a crust. I usually skip things like crusts instead of paloe-tizing them, but tonight I went for it.

Kürbispastete- Paleotized!

Crust:
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup coconut flour
6 tablespoons coconut oil (solid)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
3 T icewater

Put almonds and coconut flour into food processor. Process until corn-mealy looking, but not so long that the almonds turn to butter. Add remaining ingredients. (3 T water is a good start-- no more than 4) and pulse until it all comes together in a ball... (almost) ... scrape out and put in a bowl or ziploc and put in the fridge until ready to use. Mine was still pretty crumbly but I didn't expect to be rolling out perfect dough circles so that is ok! Dump most of it in a deep pie pan and smush it into the bottom and up the sides. Save a little to crumble over the top.

Filling:
2 lbs. pumpkin
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 & 1/2 pounds ground meat. (I use beef, but pork or any other would work too.)
S&P
Basil (I usually use dried, but this time used about 1/3 cup chopped fresh - highly recommend fresh!)
1/4 cup of thick coconut cream scooped off the top of a can that has NOT been shaken. (Save the rest of the can for something else. Actually, I got about 1/2 cup of cream...could use more, but its pretty rich, so I think 1/4 cup was plenty...ALSO, this dish is still good without it, or use dairy if you like.)

Peel and cube the pumpkin and put in a saucepan. Cover it with water and the vinegar and cook until tender, then drain well. Alternate layers of pumpkin and meat, seasoning each layer. (Yes, the meat is still raw at this point... crumble it into chunks as small as you can.) Dot with coconut cream and sprinkle any remaining crust crumbs over the top. Bake @ 350F for about an hour. (I covered it with foil for about 45 mins to keep it from over browning.)

Enjoy!

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