The Most Preposterous Pumpkin You Ever Did See

Leave it to Chef Gavin Stephenson to source Seattle's largest pumpkin for some fun fall cheer in the heart of Downtown Seattle. And what better way to celebrate this absolutely, unequivocally, preposterously large pumpkin than a little philanthropic competition?

Guess the weight of Seattle’s largest pumpkin via Twitter or Instagram (tag @fairmontolympic and hashtag #giantpumpkin) and you can win a one night stay at the Fairmont Olympic. More importantly Chef Gavin and his pastry team will transform the pumpkin – which has been specially selected to be preposterously good eating as well as good viewing - into as many scrumptious pumpkin pies as possible and then deliver them to the winner’s favorite nonprofit organization or school during the week of Thanksgiving.

The winner will be announced in potentially messy fashion on Tuesday, November 17 when Chef Gavin will invite hotel guests and Seattle locals to join him for hot cocoa and to witness him break down the pumpkin with his chainsaw.

Even if you don’t win you can share in the fun by using Chef Gavin’s very own pumpkin pie recipe.
 

SCRUMPTIOUS PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients

• 1 quantity of your favorite pie dough for the crust
• 35oz pumpkin puree
• 12oz granulated sugar
• 4oz brown sugar
• 4 whole large eggs (beaten)
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 1/3 cups evaporated milk
• ½ tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• This makes one 12” super deep dish pie, or 3 shallow 9” pies

Method

• Roll out your pie dough and line your favourite pie dish. Cover the dough with a sheet of foil and some pie weights or baking beans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the pastry case is firm and beginning to colour.
• Mix the pumpkin puree with both sugars until well combined. Stir in the beaten eggs. Stir in the milks and spices.
• Pour the pumpkin custard mixture into the pie shell.
• Bake at 300F for around 50 minutes or until the custard is set. Insert a wooden skewer into custard. The pie is done if the skewer is clean with pulled out.