Old Fashioned Coconut Custard Pie

Prepare and chill the dough. Set a rack at the middle level of the
oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Use a large nail or an ice pick to
puncture one of the three eyes on the coconut (only one can be
punctured so you will need to try each until you find it). Drain the
coconut milk out over a bowl. Strain it to remove any flecks of shell
and reserve it. Place the coconut on the oven rack and bake it until
it cracks, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the coconut from the oven
and let it cool slightly. Remove shell (it will come away easily),
then cut the coconut meat into 8 or 10 pieces. With a vegetable
peeler, remove brown skin. Coarsely grate 1 cup coconut, either by
hand or in the food processor, and reserve it for the filling.
Process the remaining coconut until it is very fine. In a large
saucepan over low heat, scald the milk until there are bubbles around
the edges. Add the finely processed coconut. Remove from the heat and
allow the mixture to cool completely. Pour it through a fine strainer
into a bowl; press coconut to extract as much moisture as possible.
In 3 or 4 batches, place coconut in the corner of a clean dish towel
and wring out over bowl to extract all remaining liquid. (If you
wish, you can toast the wrungout coconut, though it will have very
little flavor remaining after soaking in the milk.) Measure the coco
nut flavored milk and add more milk, if necessary, to make 2 cups.
(This may be done earlier in the day or even the day before and set
aside tightly covered in the refrigerator.) Pour into a bowl and
whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla and nutmeg and the reserved coconut
milk. Stir in the reserved coarsely grated coconut. Set a rack in the
lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Roll out the
dough for the bottom crust and arrange in pan. Pour filling into pie
crust. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, until the crust is baked
through and the filling is set, but not over-cooked. After the pie
has baked for 30 minutes, check it frequently so it does not
over-cook. Once the pie is wobbly textured when the pan is gently
shaken, remove it from the oven; it will continue to cook for a few
minutes longer after it is removed from the oven. If the pie is over
baked, it will be heavy and watery. Cool the pie on a rack. OLD
FASHIONED CUSTARD PIE: Omit coconut. Add 1/2 cup heavy or light cream
to the milk. Mix sugar with 1 teaspoon cornstarch before adding to
milk. Bake as above. Yield: one 9-inch pie