Crust Directions
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar.Using a pastry blender, your hands or two butter knives, quickly work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal with some big, pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle the water 1 tablespoon at a time over the flour and mix with a fork or your hands. Add just enough water so that the mixture comes together and can be gathered into a ball.Press the ball into a thick disc, wrap the disc with plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.Remove the chilled dough, and allow to rest at room temperature about 5 minutes. Roll it out into a round ⅛-inch thick, and transfer it to a pie pan, fluting the edges. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Refrigerate crust for another 20 minutes.Prick the crust all over with a fork, line the pie plate with a sheet of aluminum foil and weigh it down with dry beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, lower the temperature to 350°F and bake until the crust is golden, 10 to 15 more minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Filling Directions
Pour the hot water into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it, stirring vigorously until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Separate eggs, putting the yolks into the top of a double boiler (orif you don’t have one, a large stainless steel bowl that you place over a pot of boiling water). Put the whites into the bowl of a standing electric mixer. Before heating the yolks over the boiling water, add ⅓ cup sugar to the yolks and whisk until the mixture is thick, creamy and pale yellow. Add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, red chile and dissolved gelatin. (Don’t worry about clumps in the gelatin—they’ll dissolve when the mixture is heated.) Start heating the water in the double boiler, or if you’re using a large bowl instead, set the bowl over a pan of boiling water, making sure the bowl doesn’t actually touch the water. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens considerably and thickly coats the back of a spoon.Remove the yolk mixture from the heat and whisk in the pumpkin until combined. Set the bowl over anotherlarger bowl of ice water. Whisk the mixture about 5 minutes or longer, if you can. Remove the bowl from the ice water and chill in the refrigerator.In the standing mixer (or using a hand mixer) beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar slowly, and continue beating until the soft peaks become satiny and stiff. Scrape the egg whites out into a small bowl.Using a chilled mixing bowl and beaters, whip the cream until medium peaks form.Gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the whipped cream, then into the egg whites. Scoop the mixture into the prepared crust and chill, covered, for 4 hours or overnight. Serve garnished with additional whipped cream.
Serves 8 people
