A HALLOWEEN DINNER AT HOME
Over the years I’ve written posts on dinner for Halloween night, approaching the subject from the standpoint of dealing with trick-or-treaters-in the family, at the door or both. That tradition, however, changed with the pandemic but Halloween is still a popular holiday. So this year, I decided to create a dinner menu to share with family, or a few friends. Here are my suggestions. The dishes are quite simple but convey the spirit of the holiday. Oh! The Biersuppe is fine for kids, and they love the idea of the ingredients-especially boys. It became a family favorite of ours.
If you still have trick-or-treaters to consider, below is a list of my posts, with embedded links. They discuss the pros and cons of options from casseroles able to be served in shifts, to fast food, to finger-food dinners. All suggestions are offered with an eye to being easily consumed without danger to costumes.
October 14, 2015- Great Dinner Ideas For Trick Or Treat Night
October 20. 2016–6 EASY TRICK-OR-TREAT SUPPERS–
September 27, 2019 –TRICK OR TREAT SUPPERS
RECIPES
Halloween Cheese Ball: Yield about 2 cups
(1) 8 oz. package cream cheese
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Dash hot sauce
½ tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbs. sour cream
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. paprika
½ cup black sesame seeds
Process first 6 ingredients until smooth, adding more sour cream by the teaspoon if mix seems too stiff. Chill mixture on waxed paper until firm enough to roll into a ball. Combine last 3 ingredients and roll the cheese ball in it until completely covered. Chill until ready to serve.
Sun Dried Tomato Pate: Yield 1 ½ cups
½ cup sundries tomatoes in oil
8oz. cream cheese softened
¼ cup=1/2 stick butter
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic
¼ tsp. each dried oregano and basil
½ tsp. rosemary
Combine all ingredients in a processor. Pulse until smooth, pausing often .to scrape the sides. Chill at least 4 hrs. before serving. Can be served with toasted slices of Italian bread .Leftovers make good sandwiches.
Serving Suggestion: Break bread sticks in half. Using a Q-Tip or small paint brush, paint fingernails on the rounded ends of the bread sticks with black food coloring.
Biersuppe: Serves 4-From recipeland.com
1 ½ Tbs. flour
1 ½ Tbs. butter
(2) 16 oz. cans or bottles bock beer
1 small cinnamon stick
1 tsp. to 1 Tbs. sugar-to taste
2 egg yolks
½ cup milk
1 slice bread per serving-diced in croutons and toasted-suggested Jewish rye
Brown the flour in the butter, then add beer. Add cinnamon and sugar and bring to a boil. Whisk together the egg yolk and milk and stir into the hot (but no longer boiling) beer. Strain and serve garnished with toasted croutons.
Stew in a Pumpkin; Serves 6-8
3 Tbs. butter
2 lbs. beef for stew cubed
3 Tbs. cornstarch
2 large onions diced
3 tomatoes chopped
2 Tbs. butter
¼ tsp. EACH salt and pepper
3 cups beef stock
½ lb. prunes
½ lb. dried apricots
3 sweet potatoes sliced
(2) 10 oz. packages corn –thawed and drained
1 pumpkin, top cut off and reserved, cleaned of pulp and seeds.
Melt 3 Tbs. butter in a Dutch oven. Roll the meat in the cornstarch and brown. Set aside. Melt 2 Tbs. butter in a separate pan and sauté vegetables until tender. Add to meat with juices. Add all remaining ingredients except pumpkin, cover and simmer 1 hr. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Ladle stew into the pumpkin; set in a roasting pan with 1 inch of water, and bake for 1 hr. Carefully transfer pumpkin from the pan to a serving dish and replace its top as a lid for garnish. Serve at once scooping out some of the pumpkin meat as you ladle out the portions.
Single servings can be made using individual tiny pumpkins or delicata squash. Reduce oven time to 45 min.
NOTE: I save clean-up by sautéing the vegetables in the Dutch oven first and then browning the meat. It’s one less pot. Also if you have it on hand, replace one cup of stock with beer. It deepens the flavor.
Carrot Slaw; Serves 4
4 medium-small carrots
1/3 cup dark raisins. optionally plumped in water
¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts- optional
¼ head of iceberg lettuce
Choice of dressing*
Peel carrot skins and using a vegetable peeler, slice them one half the length at a time, into a “slaw”. Toss with the dried fruit and set aside. If not using right away, keep chilled Cut the lettuce into very thin slices and then cut them in half lengthwise, removing the tough core pieces . Arrange the lettuce equally on 4 plates. Toss the carrots with choice of dressing and divide among the plates. Garnish with nuts.
*This salad goes well with several dressings. French. Peppercorn Ranch, Vidalia onion, Cole Slaw, Caesar.
Chocolate-Orange Sour Cream Pie: Serves 8-10
Crust
2 Cups crushed plain vanilla cookies
(1) stick butter= ¼ lb.-melted
3 Tbs .unsweetened baking chocolate powder
Mix the ingredients and press into the bottom, up the sides and over the rim of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake 8 min. in a preheated 350 deg. oven, remove and cool.
Filling
(1) 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk MIXED WITH
Sour cream-sufficient to equal 2 cups – about 2/3 cup
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbs. orange zest
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 Tbs. orange liqueur-Optional
½ cup dark chocolate-grated or chopped chips.
Soften the gelatin by soaking 5 min. in the orange juice. Combine the Condensed milk, sour cream and zest in a bowl. Dissolve the gelatin by heating the orange juice in the microwave 30 sec. If it doesn’t dissolve easily, heat it an additional 5 sec. or so, but be sure it is completely liquid before proceeding. Add the juice with gelatin to the bowl with the
milk, sour cream, liqueur, if using, and zest. Whisk well to incorporate. Pour the filling mixture into the pie
shell, sprinkle over chocolate morsels and chill at least 2 hours until well set. Serve cold.
