One last week until Halloween… You have carved your pumpkin yet? We are preparing it right now 🙂 . By decorating the pumpkin, we ended up with a lot of pulp, we could not have better excuse to prepare the irresistible pumpkin meringue tart: a delicate pumpkin custard, enclosed in a box of pastry and topped with a lightly golden roasted Italian meringue.
Have you ever wondered what are the origin of carved pumpkins? And why it is so important to light the pumpkin on the front door on Halloween night? There is a brief version of the legend of Jack-o-Lantern, from which the tradition originated.

Jack was a drunkard thief ; one evening he has no money and, not wanting to give up his drinking, offered his soul to Satan in exchange for one last whiskey. The devil transformed immediately into a coin; Jack cleverly, did not use the money for his last drink, but pocketed near a cross, thus preventing the devil to regain his true shape. Satan, in exchange for his freedom, promised the thief he would never take his soul. Many years later, when Jack died, his soul was denied to enter both Heaven and Hell. Satan was happy to comply with the old promise, condemning the thief’s soul to wander in torment for eternity. Jack said he could not leave, not having a light to light the way, thus Satan gave him a firebrand from Hell. The deceased thief picked it up and put it carefully in a carved turnip, beginning his eternal wanderings, which made him known to the world as Jack of the lantern. Every year on the night of Halloween, Jack is still looking for his dewlling; pumpkins, lit on the door, indicate that he is not welcome and that his research will continue in other places.

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Stampa

Pumpking meringue tart

Cuisine Vegetarian

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 6 people

Difficulty

Ingredients

For the pastry dough

• 180 g of flour
• 75 g of sugar
• 1 egg
• 50 g of soft butter
• yeast
• salt

For the filling

• 500 ml of milk
• 250 g of pumpkin flesh
• 120 g of sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 40 g of flour
• vanilla
• cinnamon

For the meringue

• 150 g of egg whites
• 200 g of sugar
• 50 ml of water
• a teaspoon of lemon juice
• pinch of salt

Instructions

For the pastry dough

1. Start by beating butter, eggs and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add flour, baking powder and salt; knead vigorously until the dough is smooth and compact.
3. After letting it rest for half an hour in the fridge, roll out your pastry in a pan of 24 cm in diameter.
4. Place a baking paper onto the dough and cover it completely. Fill with dried beans or rice and bake in oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes. After this time, remove the pan from the oven, and remouve beans and baking sheet.

For the filling

1. Cut your pumpkin into cubes and cook in steam for 20 minutes. Then, with a fork or with a food processor, puree the pumpkin.
2. Heat the milk with vanilla and cinnamon.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, the flour and the puree.
4. Add to the milk and brought to touch the boil, stirring constantly with a whisk.
5. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

For the meringue

1. Mix together sugar and water, put on the fire and bring the temperature to 118°C, until obtained a thick syrup.
2. Whip the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt and lemon juice.
3. Once the syrup is at the right temperature and the egg whites perfectly mounted, pour the syrup over the egg whites continuing beating until the mixture has cooled. For this operation we recommend to use a kitchen mixer or a planetary.
4. Distribute your Italian meringue on the surface of the tart, if you prefer using a pastry bag or simply with a spatula to get a look a little more rustic.
5. Just before serving, bake one last time your meringue at 200 degrees for a few minutes, just long enough to brown it.