Celebrating Thanksgiving with the BBQ Collective PLUS their scrumptious Pumpkin Pie Recipe

BBQ Collective, Sheffield 
Thanksgiving dinner cooked by an American with a focus on smoked cooked meats, yes please! We caught up with Jeff Wright Executive Chef and Co-Owner of the BBQ Collective Sheffield, who wrote this fantastic piece on Thanksgiving Dinner, how they’ll be celebrating this Thursday, plus Jeff shares his delicious Pumpkin Pie Recipe with us.

The Thanksgiving holiday is a bit of a mystery to those outside the US.  Is it really about giving thanks?  About making peace with Native Americans?  Or is it about gorging on a huge meal and watching The Dallas Cowboys football game?  Though it is kind of about all of the above, these days it really is about being with family and, yes, being thankful for how fortunate we are in life.  In fact, more than 43 million Americans travel 50 miles or more to celebrate Thanksgiving with loved ones and to share a meal that most certainly ends with pumpkin pie.
And, as an American living in a far away land, it is this spirit of Thanksgiving that is especially important to me – longing for the comforts of home and our family and friends who reside there.  In fact, The BBQ Collective was born last year via a trip to The States, when we served BBQ to 90,000 hungry fans about to attend the Dallas Cowboys game at Wembley Stadium just one year ago, so it is an especially important holiday for us this year.
Though we will not be travelling home for the holidays, we are excited to host a Thanksgiving dinner at The BBQ @ The Hop November 24th, culminating of course with a slice of pumpkin pie.
Pumpkins are native to North America and were exported to Europe in the 17^th century by the French; the first pie recipes were actually soon thereafter published in the English cookbooks.  As you can imagine, the recipe has evolved over time and geography, but the basic elements have not really changed all that much:  pumpkin purée, sugar, spices, eggs and cream.
Below we share a recipe that we love, is easy to make, and will be on offer at The BBQ Collective @ The Hop over the holidays. So, a bit of a homecoming for us all.
Thanks, JW (Jeffrey Wright, Executive chef and Co-Founder of BBQ Collective @ The Hop)

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan crust

Prep: 30 mins Cook: 1hr 30mins Serves: 8
Ingredients:
Pastry
225 Plain Flour
110g Unsalted Butter
80g Golden Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
35g Pecans, shelled and blitzed until fine
 Filling
750g prepared Pumpkin or Butternut Squash
140g Caster Sugar
25g Butter (melted)
175ml Milk
2 Large Free Range Eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
Method:
Pastry
Rub together butter, sugar, flour and blitzed pecans until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and bring the dough together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for 1 5minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C, 160C for fan oven or Gas Mark 4. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and line a 22cm loose bottom tart tin. Line the pastry with baking parchment then fill with baking beans (or uncooked rice). Bake for 15mins, remove beans and paper and bake again for a further 10mins and allow to cool.
Filling
Cut pumpkin into quarters and remove ribs and seeds.  Roast pumpkin at 170C in skin until soft but not dried out, about 40 minutes.  Leave to cool.
Remove pumpkin meat and any dried edges from the skin and puree with a food processor until smooth. In a separate bowl mix together sugar, salt, cinnamon, beaten eggs, melted butter and milk. Mix in the pumpkin puree until well blended and smooth. Add finished mixture to baked pastry
Baking
Heat oven to 220C, 200C Fan or Gas Mark 7. Bake for 10mins then reduce temperature to 180C, 160 Fan, Gas 4 and bake for a further 35-40 minutes until filling has just set. Allow to cool, and then dust with the nutmeg.
Serve with Bourbon Whipped Cream.
Find out about the BBQ Collective’s Thanksgiving Feast @ The Hop Sheffield this Thrusday.
Read our review: BBQ & Brewers Night with The Hop Hideout & The BBQ Collective