Halloween is almost here, and while many associate the celebration with children dressing up and going trick or treating, there are plenty of thoroughly grown up foods to enjoy on and around fright night as well.
Of course, this year the witching hours will largely be spent indoors, due to pandemic restrictions.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the flavour and fun of Halloween, and we have a couple of recipes to share with you below.
They come courtesy of Sainsbury’s (at Scalesceugh we have branches close by at Carlisle, Penrith and Cockermouth) and Waitrose (Gretna and Hexham).
Why not give one or both of them a try? And if you’d like some more recipe ideas - for Halloween and other occasions - have a look at our Pinterest page here.
Spider web pumpkin soup
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 8
Suitable for vegetarians
Courtesy of Sainsbury’s
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into small wedges
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp mild curry powder
1.25 litres vegetable stock, made from 2 vegetable stock cubes
1 tbsp light soft brown sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, to serve
4 tsp crème fraîche, to serve
Method
1 Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft.
2 Add the pumpkin and garlic. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes. Stir in the curry powder, half the stock and the sugar. Cook for a further 35-40 minutes.
3 Add the remaining stock and bring to a simmer. Take off the heat and use a hand blender to blend until smooth. Ladle into mugs and sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds or swirl over the crème fraîche to serve. To add a spider-web design, spoon the crème fraîche into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle. Pipe a spiral on the surface of your soup and pull the tip of a knife from the centre of the spiral to the outer edge a few times to form a web shape.
Pumpkin and stem ginger pie
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Suitable for vegetarians
Courtesy of Waitrose
Ingredients
750g pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into large wedges 1 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp grated nutmeg ½ tsp ground ginger 100g soft light brown sugar 25g butter 250g frozen Cooks’ Ingredients Shortcrust Pastry, thawed 170ml double cream 2 large free range eggs
Grated zest of ½ lemon 2 pieces stem ginger, finely chopped
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Arrange the pumpkin in a baking dish so that it fits neatly and scatter with the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and half the sugar. Dot with butter and bake in the oven for 50 minutes until the flesh is tender.
2 While the pumpkin is cooking, roll out the pastry and use to line a 20cm deep loose-bottomed flan tin. Chill for 15 minutes then bake blind for 15 minutes using baking beans or dried pulses.
3 Purée the pumpkin and any juices from the dish with the cream in a blender or processor. Beat the eggs with the remaining sugar and the lemon zest until pale then fold in the pumpkin purée and stem ginger. Pour into the flan case and bake for 45-50 minutes until just set and golden. Serve warm or chilled with thick cream.
Remember - our Pinterest recipes page has many more suggestions for all kinds of meals, snacks and drinks, for all times of year. See more here.
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