For my first serious foray into pie making this Thanksgiving, I knew I wanted to make a classic pumpkin pie. So I made this "silky smooth pumpkin pie" from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Cook's Illustrated (and if you're familiar with the people at this publication, you'll have high expectations for this pie.)
The "secret" ingredient in this pumpkin pie is candied yams, which I think boosts the flavor of generally rather bland pumpkin significantly. Secondly, taking the extra effort to strain the cooked filling through a sieve gets rid of any lumps and ensures you have the silkiest possible result. I would just note that when straining the cooked filling, use a medium-mesh strainer as opposed to fine-mesh. It's nearly impossible to do with a fine-mesh strainer, which I tried using first. On my long list of things to be thankful for, I had to make a little room at the bottom to be thankful I recently tracked down a medium-mesh strainer for my macarons.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. I hope your table was bountiful and you were surrounded by some of the most important people in your life. I have so much to be thankful for and I think about it almost everyday of the year. May we always have a whole lot to be thankful for both during Thanksgiving and the rest of the year.
