Just Eat It: Savory Pumpkin Pie

by modeledzero -

By Stiff
My inspiration for cooking can come from a variety of things. Sometimes I get inspired by having a dish from a restaurant that I’ve never had before and try to replicate it at home. Sometimes inspiration comes from recipes I may see on television. I mostly get inspired by the certain items I see in the grocery store or farmer’s market.

Sometimes I fail at the outcome of what I’m making and sometimes I succeed. I just like to try new things and expand my horizons when it comes to testing new ingredients or cooking methods. James, my husband is a great guinea pig. He will generally eat whatever I make and is honest about how the food tastes. Unlike James, I myself am much more critical about how my food turns out.

Savory Pumpkin Pie

SAVORY PUMPKIN PIE

3/4 Small pie pumpkin

5 Boneless, skinless chicken tenders

10 Fresh sage leaves

1/2 t. Pumpkin pie spice

1 3/4 c. Milk (I use 2%)

1/4 c. Water

Olive oil

1 T. Butter

1 T. cornstarch

Salt and pepper

Serving Size: 6
Preheat oven to 375* (350* depending on your oven range).
Cut the bottom off of the pumpkin so it can sit flat on the counter.  Remove stem and cut in half.  Remove the insides of the pumpkin and set aside to pull pumpkin seeds out later. With a vegetable peeler, peel off pumpkin skin.  Cut 3/4 of the pumpkin into 1.5” size pieces and set aside.
Take sage leaves and julienne.
In a large non stick deep pan with a lid, heat to medium high heat and drizzle olive oil in the pan.  Salt and pepper each side of the chicken tenders and add to hot pan.  Cook for about 4 minutes on each side to slightly crisp them.  Pull chicken out of pan and add pumpkin chunks.  Turn heat down to medium.  Sauté pumpkins for a few minutes to brown on each side.  Add salt, pepper, pumpkin spice and 1/2 of the cut sage leaves.  Toss together until well combined.
Add chicken back to pan and 1 c. of room temperature milk to the pan, along with 1/4 c. of tap water.  Cover pan and turn heat down to low.  Allow pumpkin and chicken to braise for about 35 minutes.
Remove lid and turn off heat.  Since the chicken in braising in liquid, there will be some impurities that bubble up to the top.  Take a spoon and remove them.  You won’t be able to get them all but try to spoon out what you can.
Remove chicken and place them on a plate.  Take two forks and shred the chicken.
Remove pumpkin chunks and set aside.
Take a skimmer and remove the rest of the impurities from the liquid.
In a small bowl, add cornstarch and 1/4 cup of milk.  Mix well until cornstarch is dissolved.
With the remaining liquid in the pan, turn heat to medium low and add cornstarch mix and slowly whisk into pan.  This is going to create a gravy.  Slowly whisk in the remainder of the milk and sage and turn off heat.
Return the pumpkin and shredded chicken to the gravy pan.  Carefully mix together.  Add to pie pan and back for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool for an hour to allow the pie to set.
Cut and enjoy!
Cook Time: 4 hours
(Stiff is an amateur home cook and food blogger. Stiff can be found at a grocery store, Instagram @stifferoni and Tumblr: http://stiffers.tumblr.com/.)

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