City Girl, Country Boy

Last Friday I stepped off a plane from New York and headed to the country to process a deer. Talk about two extremes. One minute I was discussing what Italian fabrics would be used in the upcoming Spring line and the next minute I am running a meat grinder. The Househusband and I love traveling, trying new restaurants, having a mall within 5 minutes of us, and all of the general perks that come with living close to the city. But growing up in the country, we also love small towns and wide open spaces.

Recently, we have done a lot of research regarding the foods we eat and where our food comes from. I have gone through a large stack of food memoirs in the last year and can't get enough of them. Through our research we have become very interested in eating locally and in season. This has opened a world of new recipes and foods to us. Last summer, my aunt gave my dad several seeds for squash of varieties we had never heard of including Candy Roaster, Chicago Warted Hubbard, and New England Sugar Pies. As the summer progressed and these strange vegetables began to ripen in our garden, we had to figure out what the heck to do with them. My mom and I launched into squash research that led us to squash pie. Squash pie is basically like pumpkin pie, but much creamier. With some of the squash we cubed it and roasted it in a pan, we grilled some of it, made some into soup, and pureed and froze the remainder. The previous fall if I would've walked through a farmer's market and seen a Chicago Warted Hubbard, I would've had no idea what to do with it. Now, I can't imagine growing a garden without it.

Our biggest change in what we eat has been meat. I cannot feel good about eating meat that was produced using antibiotics, growth hormones, and raised inhumanely. We definately don't have the budget to buy all of our meat from Whole Foods, so we started thinking of other ways we could buy meat. My Dad has been an avid hunter for years and always has a freezer stocked full of wild game. We have found we can incorporate a lot of the dishes we used ground beef for with elk or venison. The Househusband has processed a total of three deer this year and our freezer is stocked with roasts, ground venison, hamburgers, and steaks. We are saving a lot of money and we know where our meat is coming from, the great outdoors!

Below is the recipe for squash pie. You can use any winter squash pureed for this recipe but we like the Chicago Warted Hubbard the best!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2 cups pureed squash (can be frozen)
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 unbaked 9 in pastry crust

Refrigerate dough 1 hour before rolling. Transfer to a 9 in pie plate and crimp and shape the edges. Cover and chill for at least one hour before filling. Set rack to lowest position. Combine the puree with the brown sugar, eggs, cream, spices, and salt and whisk until smooth. Pour into the pie shell and bake until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean about 50-60 minutes. Cool. Serves 8.