A British Thanksgiving

Finished pumpkin pies! If you are in Britain, use flan pie tins. 

There are rules in every family when it comes to a Thanksgiving dinner. And of the three Americans at Thanksgiving this year, there were many expectations. Some families have marshmallows on their yams, others keep their sweet potatoes mallow-free. Most people have turkey while we did not. And every single family has a dish or side that is unique and an annual favorite. For my family that is scalloped oysters and 7-up salad. The former was well received by all, the latter—not so much. All in all, Thanksgiving was a blast this year but I definitely faced a few challenges

Grandma's 7up Salad. Write me for the recipe!

Challenges:

1.     Pumpkin pie filling

2.     Oysters

3.     Oven

The first challenge was probably the silliest. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. In the end, we did have this American favorite but the road to getting it was a long one.

I ordered pumpkin pie filling well ahead of the day. Three weeks ahead!! I waited patiently until Tuesday of the week for the postman to come through, but alas, no luck. Unfortunately, it was lost in the mail. I had to figure something out fast. There are two places in London to get pumpkin pie filling, Waitrose and Whole foods. Waitrose was a trek to get to, so Whole foods was the best option. Of course, all Whole foods had Pumpkin Puree. I grabbed three jars and hustled home to get baking.

Before I arrived home, I thought hard about what else I needed to make this pumpkin puree work. Luckily I had everything I needed.

Ingredients

Pre-made shortcrust pie dough

2 c. Pumpkin Puree

2 Eggs (Plus the yolk of a third)

½ c. Brown sugar

1/3 c. Granulated Sugar

½ tsp Allspice

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2  c. Evaporated Milk

The recipe I found called for much more, was wonderful and can be found at this link:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/

But I planned to make three pies, and this was a recipe for one, so I improvised. Instead of tripling the recipe, I only tripled the ingredients that were vital for the pie to set. I tripled the pumpkin, and eggs and doubled the evaporated milk, the brown sugar and the spices. I also added 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Then I crossed my fingers.

The wonderful thing about my oven and most British ovens is their consistency. It bakes evenly and at very high temperatures.

To make the pie:

1.     Preheat the oven the 425

2.     Mix the sugar, spices, and mix with the eggs. Add the pumpkin puree and evaporated milk.

3.     Pour into the pie crust and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

 

The second challenge was finding canned oysters! Like my friend Hugo, you may be thinking that Oysters should be fresh on the half shell. But our family also enjoys canned oysters.

The recipe is simple.

2. cups crushed Club crackers or Ritz, or any buttery-flaky cracker you can find

2 cans  or 3 tins of canned or smoked oysters

1/4 cup of oyster juice

3/4 cup of cream

1 tsp worchestershire 

1/2 cup melted butter

If you have trouble finding crackers, you can also make it is with 1 cup of saltine crackers and a cup of breadcrumbs. I ordered club crackers online and they were on my doorstep quickly. It was little more expensive, but I don’t mess with my grandmother’s recipes.

The real challenge was finding canned oysters. British grocery stores have nearly every other fish or seafood creature canned and preserved. I could find canned mussels everywhere, but no oysters. I went to three stores before I found smoked oysters at a big Sainsbury’s in Camden and that was my only option.

The recipe turned out wonderful and the smoky flavor worked well with the worchestershire and cream. Once you’ve found oysters, making it is simple.

1.     Crush or crumble the crackers to fine crumbs in a food processor or with a mallet.

2.     Melt the butter and mix with the crumbs. Put 1/3 of the crackers in the bottom of a square baking dish and alternate with layers of oysters. Save the last third of the crackers.

3.     Mix the cream, oyster juice, worchestershire and pour over the oysters and crackers. Top with the last bit of crackers.

4.     Bake at 425 for 30 minutes until golden brown.

The final challenge was the oven.

Even though it works well and bakes well, it is tiny! I spent a good part of the time running up and down stairs to check my over as well as my friend Rebecca's to make sure that everything was on schedule.

Despite the challenges, it had a wonderful time cooking for my new family in London. I am so happy I could spend my favorite holiday with people as kind, generous and supportive as Rebecca, Aurore, Hugo, Yannik, Jacobi, Flatmate Michael, Chris, Stone, and Pamela!!!