Spooky Food - The Drinks

My cousin and I use to spend hot summer Saturday afternoons under the citrus trees in her backyard. With ginger ale or lemonade from the fridge we added freshly (and messily) squeezed oranges, mandarins and cumquat's. Picked straight from the trees that shaded us and hand squeezed directly into a large jug right there on the spot. It was always drunk immediately.

Pure bliss.

I am punch drunk on my 'carefree childhood in the seventies' memories. I'm sure we were wearing tiny floral hand sewn shorts and boob tubes!

But this has nothing to do with Halloween. Just a nice little story about my first punch making experiences.

The punch recipe (witches brew) that I make for Halloween is one I always use when making punch, usually for the kids birthday parties or school holiday treats. Hence the name 'go to punch' It has been adapted from a local recipe book.

The shrunken heads idea was discovered on Martha Stewart's website, while searching for inspiration for our first ever Spooky Dinner last year.

I double this recipe to fill my punch bowl.



Witches Brew with Shrunken Heads

Go-to Punch

(non- alcoholic)

makes 750 ml

• 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice
• 1 1/2 cups pineapple or orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups ginger ale
• 1 1/2 cups soda water

• ice cubes

Mix all of the ingredients together in a punch bowl and serve.

To make the Shrunken Heads

• 1 cups lemon juice
• 1 tablespoons coarse salt
• 4 large granny smith apples (peeled, cored and cut in half lengthways)
• 16 whole cloves

Preheat the oven to 120 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix together lemon juice and salt in a medium size bowl. Using a sharp paring knife, carve a face, as desired, on the rounded side of each apple half. Place the apples in the lemon mixture for one minute, then transfer onto paper towel to drain. Put the apples, face-side up on the prepared baking tray and bake until the apples are dry and begin to brown around the edges. This will take about 90 minutes. Remove from the oven and press cloves into the 'eye sockets'. Make the punch in the punch bowl and float the shrunken heads on top.



And for the grown ups we serve Murky Merlot and Queasy Reisling.

Thanks again Martha