Spooky Halloween Dinner

New traditions have been started in this house. Our spooky dinner on Halloween is one that we hosted for the first time last year and again earlier this week . I know for sure, that I will be cooking the same food next year, so I thought I'd better write it down.

My children have been talking about spooky food for over a month. There was no way we were having Halloween without goblin pies and bandaged fingers.

Here is our 'Spooky Dinner' menu

• sticky bat wings
• bandaged fingers or severed fingers
• slime pie
• goblin pies with blood sauce
• ribcage potatoes
• salad

• witches brew with shrunken heads
• murky merlot and queasy reisling

• mud cake
• eyeball jellies
• snakes in slime

Today I give you the recipes for our main meal.



Sticky Bat Wings

Honey and Soy Chicken Marinade

serves 6 - 8
 
• 1.8 kilograms chicken pieces (use chicken wings to make bat wings)

for the marinade

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
 
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and marinate the chicken pieces overnight.

To make bat wings, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake for 35 minutes. If you are using this marinade for other chicken pieces, I suggest that you cook drumsticks and thighs (with bones) for 45 - 55 minutes. If you are marinating chicken breasts or chicken thigh fillets I would cook them on the barbecue.
 


Bandaged Fingers

serves 4 - 6

• 12 chipolata sausages
• 3 tortillas (cut into 1 inch wide strips)
• tomato ketchup

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Oil a baking tray. Lay the sausages onto the tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. To serve, wrap the end of each sausage with a strip of tortilla and dollop a drop of tomato ketchup onto the other end.

This year we served severed fingers because I forgot to buy the tortillas.




Slime Pie

Spanakopita

serves 6-8

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks (chopped)
• 1 cup shallots (chopped – include some of the green tops)
• 800 grams spinach or silverbeet (chopped)
• 1 cup dill (chopped)
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• 400 grams feta cheese (or 200 grams feta and 200 grams ricotta - crumbled)
• 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 16 sheets filo pastry
• 250 grams butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 30 x 18cm baking dish. Heat the oil in a large pot and gently sauté the leeks and shallots until soft. Stir in the spinach and stir until wilted. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the dill, parsley, nutmeg, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the most of the liquid has evaporated and the spinach begins to stick to the pan. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs and feta.

Line the baking dish with 8 sheets of filo pastry, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Spoon in the spinach and feta mixture. Top with the remaining layers of filo pastry, once again, brushing each sheet with butter. Finish by brushing the top with butter. Cut a small slit into the top of the pastry and bake for 40 – 45 minutes until golden brown.
 


Goblin Face Pies with Blood Sauce

Mini Meat Pies

makes 16

for the filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 500 grams mince
• 150 grams mushrooms (finely chopped)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornfour
• 2 tablespoons water

for the pastry

• 5 sheets of store-bought shortcrust pastry (thawed)
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)

to serve

• tomato ketchup

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and oil muffin trays. Heat the oil in heavy based pot and gently saute the onions until tender. Add the garlic and then the beef mince and mushrooms. Cook until brown. Add the red wine, beef stock, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, bay leaf and season to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for 20 minutes. In a cup, mix the cornflour and water until well combined. Add to the mince mixture and increase the heat. Stir through and cook until thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Use a small plate or cup to cut around for to make the pie shells. Line the muffin trays with the cut pastry and fill with the cooled meat filling. Using a smaller cup template, cut out the lids of the pies. Use a paring knife to cut out the eyes and mouths of the lids. Top each pie with it's goblin face lid. Brush the pastry with egg and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until golden. Serve with tomato ketchup (blood sauce)

Editors note: I have updated this recipe (31/10/12) I found these were a little dry last year, so if you have made them, you might want to try them again. I think that this years batch of goblin face pies (much requested in this house) are an improvement.

Ribcage Potatoes

Hasselback Potatoes

serves 6

• 6 large potatoes (peeled and cut in half lengthways)
• 50 grams butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Oil a large baking tray. Place each potato half on a chopping board, flat side down, ready to cut. Starting from one end of the potato, make slits in each potato by cutting almost all the way through the potato. Continue along the potato, making cuts about 4 mm apart. Carefully place the potatoes on the baking tray. Dot each potato with butter and drizzle with olive oil. season with salt and pepper. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and crispy. During the cooking time, baste the potatoes with the butter and oil and shuffle them about so they don't stick, but not in the first 15 minutes of cooking or they will break up. Serve immediately.