Angela's Italian Recipe for Pumpkin Pie


Ingredients:
For the Bechamel Sauce:
2 oz (50 grams) oz butter
2 oz (50 grams) plain flour
18 fl oz (500 ml) milk
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Salt and pepper

For the Pie:
2 oz (50 grams) dried mushrooms
1 oz (25 grams) butter, plus extra for greasing
1/2 shallot, chopped
1/2 carrot, chopped
7 oz (200 grams) cooked pumpkin
11 oz (300 grams) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Prepare the Bechamel Sauce:
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.

Whisk in the flour.

Pour in all the milk, whisking constantly until it starts to boil.

Season with salt, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes. Bechamel sauce should not taste floury.

Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Taste and add more salt if necessary and season with pepper and/or nutmeg.

If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk.

If too runny, return to the heat and add a knob of butter mixed with an equal quantity of plain flour.

Note: *For a richer bechamel sauce, replace half the milk with the same amount of double cream; for a lighter bechamel sauce, add half milk and half water.

Prepare the Pie:
Put the mushrooms in a bowl, add hot water to cover and leave to soak for 20 minutes, then drain, squeeze out and chop.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the shallot and carrot and cook over a low heat until softened, then add the mushrooms.

Cover and cook for 15 minutes until tender, then stir into the bechamel sauce.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas Mark 6.

Grease an ovenproof dish with butter.

Meanwhile, process the pumpkin with a pinch of salt in a food processor.

Transfer to a bowl and combine with the flour, then stir in the egg to bind into a dough.

Knead quickly and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a fairly thin sheet.

Cut out 10-12 rectangles.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the pumpkin rectangles and cook for a few minutes, then drain.

Arrange the rectangles in alternate layers with the mushroom sauce and bake for a few minutes. Serves 4.