Halloween Night of Frights: The Final Chapter

I feel like the holiday has already come and gone--have you all seen the Christmas advertisements already? Ridiculous. I do hope I get to see a few good trick or treaters! I was taking a walk around the Cherokee Triangle yesterday and I seriously want to stunt my growth, throw on a fun costume, and go trick or treating myself with such great decorations everywhere. Oh to have a heavy pillowcase full of candies and come home to dump them all on the floor, where the bartering begins. I was lucky to have a sister with opposite likes for candy, so we made out well...you can deal with the cavities later, right?

Today ties up the Halloween trilogy with a few more recipes. I know everyone is psyched about the candies and baking recipes, but I'll have to get Benzie the Baker (my roommate) to contribute to that one. Until then, I will give you the links and later I can edit for notes. The recipes we have left today are the Hot as Hades Salsa, Witch's Concoction Dip and Crudités, and Sausage Balls. I'll also give you the link for the delicious Philadelphia Fish House Punch, which made plenty for the party.

Hot as Hades Salsa

2 cans of crushed tomatoes

1 tiny can of green chiles

1 tiny can of jalapeños (this is how you control the heat)

Optional: replace jalapeño with chipotle in adobo

1/2 Minced onion

3 Minced cloves of garlic

1/8 C Vinegar

1/8 C sugar (or more to taste)

Chimayo chili

Cumin

Salt

Sour cream or crema for spider web decoration

As for any homemade salsa, you can adjust the level of heat accordingly. The major heat contributors are the Jalapeños, the chili pepper, and the onion/garlic combination. The onions and garlic tone themselves down after a day or two, when they are able to permeate their flavor throughout the entire salsa. However, if you are more of a mild person, you can just throw in a few jalapeños (don't omit them because you still need that flavor!). If you are more into picante I would seriously recommend substituting a chipotle in adobo in there--if you've never done this, do it one at a time and check the heat as you go...those hotties are potent!

As for the salsa's construction, you just need to blend all of the above ingredients and taste as you go, adjusting the seasonings to your taste. This way, the recipe is always going to be different, but a unique salsa recipe is a good way to judge a chef's repertoire...so I dare you! For the Halloween theme, draw a spider web on top with sour cream or crema (found in the Mexican supermarkets or "International aisle").

Witch's Concoction Dip and Crudités

Adapted from Epicurious

8 oz or so Goat cheese

1/2 C Greek yoghurt

Jar of pesto

Squeeze of lemon

Cracked pepper

Smoked paprika (pimentón)

Carrots

Celery

Jicama, cut into sticks

Broccolini

Radishes

Bell peppers

Cucumbers
Endive

I said that this dip repelled vampires on my little gravestone label, and it does have a nice garlicky punch. You can choose to make your own pesto, if you're into that, and I would say you could use about a 3/4 C of it to get the same mixture. Adjust the greek yoghurt and goat cheese to the desired consistency, thinner=more yoghurt, thicker=more goat cheese. Mix all of the ingredients in the first set, and you have your dip. As for the crudités, go outside the norm...find something fun that is in season, available at the store, looks cool and can be eaten raw, then cut them in different shapes and style the plate. The above vegetables are suggestions I thought would work everywhere. I myself had jicama, but it is not pictured in the photo...surprise!

Sausage Balls

16 oz. Country Sausage (without the casing)

3 C Baking Mix (like Jiffy or Bisquick)

2 C Cheese: cheddar is the go-to, but gruyère would be incredible!

Sage

Mix all of the ingredients together until well incorporated. The sage should be mixed in until you can see that beautiful contrasting green distributed throughout, but don't go overboard, a tablespoon or so should do it--use your good judgement. Then roll them into balls. At this point you can put them in the freezer and save for later use, or you can put them directly onto a baking sheet, un-greased...trust me the sausage will take care of the fat factor for you, in an oven preheated to 400º for 15-20 minutes or until desired shade of golden brown. This recipe can be made ahead of time. The raw dough, not rolled into balls, will save in the fridge for 24 hours before you should roll it up and bake it.

As for the other recipes, here is what I found (these links will take you to recipes on other sites):

Philadelphia Fish House Punch

I made an ice ring for this in the bottom of our bundt cake pan (which is in the shape of cathedral spires, so it made an awesome ice ring. Instead of thyme and peaches, I put in orange rind and raspberries and it was beautiful!

Slasher Cupcakes

Recipe from i am baker

We were going to put shards of sugar glass in there with the "blood" on them, but that didn't work out quite as planned. However, dripping puréed raspberries was a great idea, and looked a lot like blood. So slasher cupcakes were still a go!

Black Velvet Whoopie Pies

From i am baker

These cuties are dark chocolate black velvet cookies with an orange fluff icing. So addictive! So awesome displayed as well!

This, dear friends, is the conclusion of the Halloween trilogy. Don't you both love and hate it when trilogies resolve themselves? I do!

Happy Halloween and I hope that your party is as much fun as ours was!!!

Halloween Party: Part Deux

Just as a refresher, this is part of a trilogy of Halloween treats from this year's Halloween celebration Night of Frights. We are going off of this menu:

Savory: Ghostly Bruschetta, Mummy Dogs, Hot as Hades Chips and Salsa, Witch's Concoction Dip and Crudités, Sausage Balls, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, and Deviled Eggs.

Sweet: Jack's Sinfully Sweet Sandwiches (Whoopie Pies), Slasher Cupcakes, Chocolate-covered Apricots, Edible Arachnids
Drinks: Glühwein and Philadelphia Fish House Punch

As you can see, everything is very theme-driven. I must admit, I could have gotten a little more creative with the names, but everyone seems to want to pin on those gross-sounding names. I couldn't bring myself to naming delicious food with disgusting names--to me it sounded a little counter-productive, but if that's what you're into please get even more creative!

I'll go into a little bit of the decorations I chose as well to give you a more complete view of the party plan. Basically, I wanted to keep the decorations as affordable as possible, which limited me to recycling what I had and using paper and pens for the rest. I splurged on a package of sticky tack, which was a whopping $1.73 at Kroger, so all in all I think the decorations cost me $7...not kidding. I was in a notably creative mood, which meant some time-consuming drawing and exacto knife work, but if you have that artistic itch, parties are a great way to stretch those muscles a little bit. My two main projects were candle lanterns and Halloween silhouettes.

The candle lanterns were so simple to make and the effect was exactly what I wanted. I took jars that I had cleaned and recycled for storing other things like granola or refrigerator jams, and I covered them in orange tissue paper, adhering them with some trusty Elmer's Glue at the seam and on the neck and bottom. When they were dry, I just took a felt-tip pen and drew some "scary" silhouettes on them--you know, your typical witches, gravestones, scary faces, mummies, scarecrows, spiders...you get the point. Then you throw in a tea light candle and they light up those perfect Halloween colors. Win.

For the black silhouettes, it was a similar idea. Draw some scary outlines and exacto knife them out. I made a haunted house scene, went a little crazy with the bats (perhaps batty in this case?), some jack o'lanterns and some gentlemen skulls. Love them! With the left over tissue paper and black construction paper, I made a few streamers to hang off of the chandelier and mantle and in the archway between the living room and the dining room. All in all, it was a lot of fun to put together, and it looks great....I almost don't want to take them down. However, a good thing to keep in mind is that these guys save perfectly well for next year!

Let's get to a few more recipes, I'll give you my secret recipe for Glühwein, or mulled wine--a recipe I picked up in Austria, then we'll look at the Ghostly Bruschetta, and finally how about some Deviled Eggs:

Glühwein

5 Bottles of red wine 

(quality is trumped by quantity in this one because of the sugar and spices. Don't go crazy)

2 Orange Peels (just the orange, not the white pith)

3 Cinnamon Sticks

5 Whole cloves

1 t Ground ginger

1 C Sugar

Optional: Brandy, rum, vodka, bourbon, your spirit of choice to spike this even more

This delightful drink is served hot in mugs, and is a staple of the Christmastime diet in the German-speaking world. This beverage is served in just about every booth of the Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkt). For your purposes though it is going to be the dark red that reminds us so much of blood, and you can serve it up at your Halloween party! It tastes like holidays! You simply combine all of the above ingredients in a large pot over medium heat and stir to combine and dissolve the sugar. You can choose to pour this through a strainer, or do what I do and ladle it directly into a mug and give it to your eager guests. You can keep this warm in a crock pot and serve it from there--imagine that, a warm punch bowl! Genius. Note: warm alcohol hits one faster than cold alcohol, so drink responsibly! I know, it is delicious.

Ghostly Bruschetta

Baguette cut into slices

Tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes), chopped

Basil

Garlic

Olive oil

Salt

Black Pepper (optional)

Bruschetta is a wonderfully forgiving party food. It is easy to eat, it can be served straight out of the oven, and it is okay cold too! To set up the tomatoes, you should chop them into small pieces, I quartered small grape tomatoes if that gives you an idea, then you throw in a few cloves of fresh garlic, drizzle some olive oil in there and salt and toss it all together. I prepared the tomato mixture first and let it sit overnight to get those garlicky-tomatoey flavors working together. Then the next day all I had to do was drizzle the baguette with olive oil, spoon on some tomato mixture, top with mozzarella (you can get fancy and try to make them ghost shaped), and season with salt and basil and black pepper if you want. Heat it in a 350º oven until the cheese is melted and you can serve immediately.

Deviled Eggs

1 Dozen hard-boiled eggs

Homemade Mayonnaise (recipe linked)

2 T Minced sweet gherkins

1 t Smoked paprika (pimentón)

Salt

Finely ground black pepper

Optional garnish: Chives to make "pumpkin stems"

The original idea was to make these deviled eggs look like pumpkins with little stems at the top, but I decided just to go with what I had. The smoked paprika really adds something special to this, beyond what everyday paprika does in most deviled eggs recipes, the flavor packs a smokey punch. I primarily used it for the color that it gives, as you can see it gets a little closer to the orange of the pumpkins that I originally set out for. Anyways, the construction is pretty basic: cut the eggs in half and reserve the yolk, then whip up the yolk with the remaining ingredients and re-stuff the egg whites. I go with the taste and adjust method for the yolk mixture--you will have leftovers, so you can't taste enough. 

If you want to make this ahead of time, here are a few notes--the hard-boiled eggs will peel cleaner after a day in the fridge, because it redistributes the water inside the egg and helps the membrane separate from the inside. Also, you can cut them in half and store the whites hole-side down in a covered container. They will drain their excess water this way. I made it ahead and prepared them as such, so all I had to do was fill the egg whites before I served them--this is a good idea because eggs shouldn't sit out too long unrefrigerated...you want your guests to remember your party from last night for other reasons. If you have a deviled egg serving platter at home (of which I am a lucky owner), then dust that baby off and let her do what she is meant to do! If not, find a serving dish with a lip on the side and leave enough room for your guests to get their fingers in there without too much fishing. They are delicious!

So gather up those decorations, fire up the kitchen cogs and get to work on this incredible party! Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween Special: Part 1 + Great News!

Good day to you all! Man, it was a busy weekend around our house, because we threw an incredible Halloween party! I absolutely love Halloween, it is among my favorite days of the year. The feeling of fall with all those warm colors, the bite of the chill air, the warm spices and autumn harvest goods filling up the kitchen. Couple all those goodies with horror movies and ghost stories that scare me into a fit of nervous laughter, and I'm all set! My guilty pleasures of the season include some choice movies like The Halloween Tree, Hocus Pocus (which I watch about 50 times during the last two weeks of October), a sprinkling of slasher films, and whatever horror classics that Wild and Woolly Video recommends.

If you happen to be in Louisville and are planning a Halloween party, I highly encourage you to stop by our darling Wild and Woolly. I went in there the day of my party, consulted with one of the employees on some good horror films that had a decent Halloween party soundtrack and an uncomplicated plot, and I came home with an armful of incredible movies. I was recommended Carnival of Souls (a Criterion Collection choice that had a spooky organ soundtrack), The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Night of the Living Dead. I couldn't have asked for anything better...I really love this city, and places like Wild and Woolly make it beyond awesome to live here.

The other super important part to any party...well, any day really, is the food! My roommate and I had been planning this menu for ages, I had been decorating the house little by little every week, and we were discussing ways to divvy up the kitchen space to work well together. Can you tell that it had been a while since we threw a party together? We were kind of renowned for it back in college, and the happy days of high adrenaline and having our house full of happy, laughing, loud talking, fun guests was upon us again. What a joyful preparation! Oh, and we went to see Dracula at Actor's Theatre for the 4PM matinée showing...might not be doing that again because we were super pressed for time preparing the food and drinks and such--although it was a fun show to kick off the evening!

Allow me to show you our menu! I'll give you a couple recipes today and we'll continue on for a couple days this week. If you're throwing a Halloween party, I highly recommend these recipes...they were very fun, not too labor-intensive, and of course Halloween-themed!

Savory: Ghostly Bruschetta, Mummy Dogs, Hot as Hades Chips and Salsa, Witch's Concoction Dip and Crudités, Sausage Balls, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, and Deviled Eggs.

Sweet: Jack's Sinfully Sweet Sandwiches (Whoopie Pies), Slasher Cupcakes, Chocolate-covered Apricots, Edible Arachnids

Drinks: Glühwein and Philadelphia Fish House Punch

Today I think I'll share the Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Chocolate-dipped Apricots, and Mummy Dogs. Here we go:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Smoked Paprika

Chili powder (I use Chimayo chili)

Salt

Olive oil

Roasting pumpkin seeds is a yearly ritual during Halloween. Not to mention that eating pumpkin seeds is really healthy for you, providing quite a dose of fiber and other essential minerals that I won't bore you with--just know that they are fun to eat and not bad for your health either! You may have seen dark green pumpkin seeds for sale in the store, and these are the seeds without the hull. However, the hull, or shell of the pumpkin seed is actually edible, and that's how I eat them because I don't want to go peeling all of those already slippery suckers after I just mutilated a pumpkin to harvest them! Oh, by the way, I did a Día de los Muertos pumpkin this year :) check him out!

Try to get as much of the pulp off of the seeds as possible. It would behoove you to rinse them off as well--a step which I skipped and I was okay with. Then you make a spice mixture to taste with about 2T of olive oil. Toss the seeds in them to coat and put them in a 350º oven for about 15-20 minutes. You can toast them as golden as you want...I like mine well done, but 15 minutes is probably the least time you want to dedicate to it. Allow them to cool, and DIG IN! I would say that these pumpkin seeds are the ideal reward after creating your jack o'lantern--then just light him up and munch away.

Chocolate-Dipped Apricots

Dried apricots (as many as you want to serve)

3 Chocolate candy bars (Cadbury Royal Dark is my favorite)

Special equipment: Parchment paper and a wire rack

This is a piece of pie, but so elegant and delicious at the same time! Added bonus: the make up the Halloween colors! A gorgeous addition to any Halloween party table, and I daresay more classy than a bowl full of that fun-sized noise... I digress.

You don't need to buy fancy melting chocolate to dip your favorite food in, just use your favorite chocolate bar (I recommend using dark chocolate because milk chocolate probably won't set as well). I set up a double boiler with about an inch of water in the bottom pot. Bring it to a rolling boil, set your other pot on top with the chocolate inside. You should break the chocolate into squares to ensure even melting. At this point you can take turn the heat of or turn it to low, depending on how much steam is escaping. This method keeps the chocolate from burning and gives the chocolate all the time it needs to evenly melt. Don't stir too often because you will be punished with bubbles :( but you shouldn't be afraid to check on it and give it a few stirs to even it out. When the chocolate has melted, you are all set to dip your dried apricots in them, as far as you want to (I did mine about half way, or to the point where my finger was), and let them cool on a wire rack with parchment paper under it to catch the drips. If you want them to set and be shiny you can put them in the fridge for about a half hour.

I served this in a clear bowl to accentuate the orange and dark brown as Halloween colors. It rounded out the dessert table nicely.

Mummy Dogs

Hot dogs

Breadstick dough

Mustard (optional)

This recipe is not my typical choice for party food, but it is so adorable, I had to jump all over it! I halved the hot dogs both vertically and horizontally to have more little mummies, but you can just cut the hot dogs in two if you want something more substantial. It's finger food, so I figured I would make it go as far as I could. 

The idea is this: Cut off strips of the breadstick dough. I took both ends and did a little jumprope motion to twist it up and lengthen it, then I wrapped it around the hot dog, leaving a little spot where the eyes would go, and mummifying it. It's like a Halloween version of pigs in a blanket. You put them in a 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until they get as golden as you want them, and then you can choose to dab some mustard eyes on them or leave them eyeless, which I guess was my approach. Everyone loved them, and they were a great fit for the theme.

We will continue with this menu throughout the week so keep on the lookout!

As for the great news... Louisville Lady Gourmet is going to be writing a couple of columns for the Insider Louisville publication! I am so excited!!!!! I will keep you posted for my first published articles! I can't believe this is happening--I get to write about my favorite city, its food culture, and what's going on in my kitchen. There couldn't be anything better! 

I hope you enjoy today's Halloween treats!