Eating like a witch

Pumpkins might make pretty lanterns but no self-respecting ghoul would be sated by a squash. Hannah Williams dug deep into the cauldron to rustle up a fiendish feast wicked enough for a witch

With dragon’s blood out of season and the supermarket fresh out of slugs I was forced to pander my witchcraft to the more mainstream palate. But every gastronomic delight can be made to look gruesome with a wiggle of the wand, especially if there’s jelly involved…

Hubble bubble, soup’s in trouble
Riding a broomstick can be breezy work, especially at this time of the year, so to ward off the winter chill I decided to conjure up a warming brew. Jamie’s English onion soup seemed a good place to start but it looked far too appetising to serve my creepy coven.

Ditching the conventional crouton, I fashioned a skull shape out of a thickly set crust and topped with a generous helping of grated Gruyere. After a few minutes under the grill my skull was starting to soften, scrumptiously oozing with strings of slimy cheese.

Ready for service and bored by my selection of bowls I turned my attention back to the pumpkin. Sturdy enough to withstand heat and cavernous enough to act as a cauldron, I hollowed out the insides leaving the wall at least an inch thick. A punctured pumpkin would lead to a messy kitchen so any creative carvings were left for the lanterns but the creepy cauldron made a great centrepiece.

A witches’ brew
Now for the drafts: every witch likes a drink especially a spicy one to put hairs on her chest. I grabbed some bottled potions and some sticks of festive spice and brewed up some blood coloured mulled wine. Devilishly delicious but not quite spooky enough, I drizzled my glasses with dark red damson jam and added a sprinkle of sugar to make them sparkle in the night.

Bobbing for body parts
With supper sorted it was time to get my entertainment in gear. No spectre worth his salt would go dunking for fruit so I decided to give apple bobbing a slimy twist. Instead of filling my bowl with water I bubbled up some lime jelly and instead of apples I used fruity eyeballs fashioned from blueberries and grapes. This jellied eyeball recipe looked gruesome and tasted great. OK, so my guests had to nibble their way through rather than dunk into the dessert but we were all left deliciously messy and on a slight sugar high.

Hungry for more fiendish feasting? Check out all 4Food’s Halloween recipes

Treat your tastebuds to some butterbeer

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