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

Unlike Midge and Bono, we stopped short of trying to feed the world and instead concentrated our efforts on feeding our office, with the various odds and end left languishing in our cupboards at home. Rather than splash our cash in the local lunchtime eateries we vowed to make the most of leftovers that otherwise would end up in the bin.

The request got a mixed reception initially, with schoolday memories of pilchards and custard needing some heavyweight PR. But after exorcising various Harvest Festival horrors with some gruelling group therapy the office eventually got on board.

Here’s what we got:
1 x tin beef and vegetable soup
2 x tin sweetcorn
1 x tin tuna
1 x tin sardines
1 x tin chickpeas
1 mini tin spicy chilli paste
1 x packet boquerones
1 x box pasta
½ packet couscous
½ packet polenta
½ jar curry paste
½ packet spinach
5 mushrooms
2 chillies
Some anya potatoes
1 x tin of mystery
1 x tin peaches
Garlic paste
Creamed coconut
Some cinnamon sugar
The remnants of a bottle of port
Half a pot of Hellmann’s mayo

Cinnamon sardines
We had 10 hungry mouths to feed and had promised them a lunch of at least two courses. With no concoction utilising all the ingredients immediately springing to mind, we opted for some Spanish-style tapas action served up buffet style with a humble peach pud for dessert.

The menu included a beef chilli pasta utilising the canned soup and port, some spicy chickpeas with shredded spinach, sardine pasta with the blow-your-head-off chilli paste, grilled polenta cakes with a little extra spice, couscous with tuna, sweetcorn and chilli, mushrooms, spinach and garlic boqerones, all finished off with grilled coconut peaches topped with cinnamon sugar.

OK so it was a bit of a spicy carb fest and admittedly the plates came across somewhat beige (as every buffet lunch should) but on the whole it was a success. It’s amazing the difference a little spice makes and forcing ingredients to work harder often makes for crisper, cleaner tastes.

Perhaps our office is an atypical bunch of frivolous, throw-away folk who care less than the average man about hunger and waste. But I doubt it. All of the ingredients were the classic contenders left festering forgotten at the back of the cupboard. With £10 billion of food wasted in Britain every year it’s time to make the most of those pilchards and pickles.

Check out our recipes below and let us know if you think you could have done better.

Browse 4Food’s luscious leftover recipes

Read more about Britain’s food waste

Recipes

Curried chickpeas with spinach
Boil the chickpeas in a pan of water for about 5 minutes or until tender.
Drain then stir in two handfuls of pre-washed spinach and a generous teaspoon of curry paste.

Spicy tuna couscous
Make the couscous as per packet instructions. Finely chop a fresh red chilli, drain 1 can of tuna and two cans of sweetcorn and stir through the couscous. Feel free to perk up the couscous with vinegar and stock should you have any to hand.

Chilli beef pasta with port
Cook the pasta as per packet instructions. Pour over a can of beef and vegetable soup. Add a generous splash of port and heat through, stirring occasionally.

Spinach, mushroom and garlic boquerones
Scatter uncooked spinach across a plate. Heat a tbsp olive oil in a pan, add chopped mushrooms, garlic paste and parsley (if you have some). Remove from pan and scatter over spinach. Place boquerones into pan and return to heat for 2 or 3 minutes. When heated through add to the spinach and mushrooms.

Spicy sardine pasta
Cook pasta as per packet instructions. Stir in tinned sardines, 1 tablespoon spicy chilli paste and a handful of washed spinach.

Curried potato salad
Wash potatoes and cook in boiling water for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and leave to cool. Stir in 4 tablespoons mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons curry paste.

Grilled coconut peaches with cinnamon sugar
Drain peaches and place in an ovenproof dish. Crumble creamed coconut into a jug and add a splash of milk to make a runny paste. Pour over the peaches, cover with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and grill until golden brown.

The study, carried out by analysts, Mintel, found Britain was chomping its way through £3.5 millon worth of chocolate every year – a belly busting bill working out at more than £50 each.

Historically, chocolate sales have flouted the market trend during a recession, as people take solace in a little sweet treat.

And it seems cocoa now has even more reasons to make you feel good as Montagne Jeunesse launch a range of chocolate inspired beauty products.

Chocolate hair cream anybody?

Treat yourself the traditional way with 4Food’s chocolate recipes.

The FSA reassured fowl fans that cooking chicken thoroughly was a sure fire way of killing the bug. But should we still be worried?

The agency is holding a campylobacter conference in 2010 to hatch out a plan but how do you feel about food bacteria? Are we all too nervous about our nosh or is this a sign that more care is need in the coop and the kitchen?

Let us know your thoughts below but in the meantime swat up your skills on cooking chicken.

4Food’s top 10 scary foods

Making the most of your freezer

Don’t worry if you missed out on the ethical action you can make up for it over dinner with these scrumptious sustainable fish recipes from a trio of celebrity chefs:
Tom Aitken’s tuna and orange salad
Raymond Blanc’s salad niçoise
Paul Rankin’s tuna salad

Find out more about sustainable fishing.

Browse all 4Food’s fish recipes

£1,000 up for grabs for keen amateur chefs!

ITV Studios is looking for new keen amateur chefs to take part in the hugely popular Channel 4 daytime show, Come Dine With Me. In each episode, we visit a different town or city in the UK. Over the course of a week each contestant takes it in turn to host a dinner party for the others. At the end of the week the best host wins a £1,000 cash prize.

Where do I sign?
If you live in any of these areas – Sheffield, Cardiff, Dudley, Weston-super-Mare/North Somerset, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Manchester, South East London, and Darlington & Stockton-on-Tees – please contact us on comedinewithme@itv.com or call 0871 200 3939. Callers from a BT landline will be charged a set up fee of 7p per call plus 10p per minute. Mobile and other network rates will be higher.

And if you live in any of these areas – Bury, Barnsley, North East London, Warwick/Leamington Spa, East Sussex or Peterborough – please contact us on cdwm@itv.com or call 0871 244 4142. Callers from a BT landline will be charged a set up fee of 7p per call plus 10p per minute. Mobile and other network rates will be higher.

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.

Browse all the Come Dine With Me recipes

Watch all the recent episodes on 4OD Catch-up

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes on Come Dine With Me? What Dave really thinks about the contestants? Or whether he’d tuck into Big Mo’s roast lamb?

Well now you can ask him on Twitter. Dave will be tweeting at Therealdavelamb throughout Sunday’s show answering all the questions you never dare ask.

Watch the celebrities in action Sunday 20th September on Channel 4

Read 4Food’s interview with Dave Lamb

Follow 4Food on Twitter

Kicking off the parties is Bobby Davro, who throws a Hawaiian party complete with inappropriately dressed Hula girls and a tropical Elvis.

Dinner party two and Laila Morse takes a no-frills approach with a truly British menu. But the simplicity of the starter is soon overcome by her inability to manage her meringues. Dinner is disastrously delayed but Laila thinks her guests can lump it if they don’t like it.

Dinner party three sees some genuine culinary flair from Dane who has a few tricks up his sleeve and some extra chillis in mind for Bobby. Dane’s demanded a ‘funky dress code’ – he means cool but unfortunately Bobby and Laila take this to mean fancy dress.

Concluding the celebrity soirees is Dani, who immediately cheats by heading to a local restaurant for ingredients, a recipe and a cooking lesson. But the hostess’ day soon goes badly wrong as she falls ill and ends up in hospital. Will Dani even make it to her own night?

Watch the celebrities in action Sunday 20th September on Channel 4

Browse all the Come Dine With Me recipes

There’s nothing local about the first menu however, as pub landlady Sharon Craig, is keen to introduce guests to some adventurous South African flavour. Sharon is supremely confident that she’ll win the competition, but will her guests feel the same? Especially when they’re invited to try a live locust as an hors d’oeuvre.

Next to cook is Welsh patriot, Annie Haden, who thinks her traditional Welsh menu will win the day. But if that doesn’t do the trick she hopes the surroundings will – as she’s hosting the party in Dylan Thomas’ birth place.

DJ, Nick Madge, is feeling nervous on day three after swords were drawn at Annie’s house the day before. Pub landlady, Sharon, questioned her host about her smoking and then accused beauty queen, Samira, of being dull. Will the anxious bachelor be able to keep the peace?

Beauty queen Samira is sick of the arguing by day four and determined to keep her guests happy with a menu inspired by her Arabic roots. Good luck Samira.

Finally, it’s down to music producer, Colin Consterdine, to bring the week to a close in what promises to be an explosive finale.

Watch the Swansea chefs in action, weekdays from 15th June, 5:30pm on Channel 4

Browse all the Come Dine With Me recipes

Come Dine With Me
Cult show Come Dine With Me is back for a brand new series starting in September as more competitive amateur cooks attempt to outdo each other in the kitchen.

The Big Food Fight
But they’re not the only ones feeling the competitive heat: The Big Food Fight, launching in September, is a brand new food quiz with a generous seasoning of both the culinary and the comedic, hosted by comedienne Sue Perkins. Each week resident captain and gastronomic guru, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is forced to defend his cooking credentials as he’s challenged by a different guest captain – a famous food personality – to establish who knows the most about all things edible.

River Cottage
Hugh’s swapping his quiz cards for the farmyard as he returns with a new series of River Cottage. Revelling in all that is coming good in the garden, Hugh will be drawing warmth from his chillies, comfort from his pumpkins and pleasure from his potatoes. He’ll also be keeping us up to speed with the triumphs of his Landshare scheme.

The F Word
It’s time to get sweary as Gordon Ramsay returns for a new series of the F Word. And this time Gordon’s on the hunt for The F Word’s Best Local Restaurant. With the help of nominations from the great British public, Gordon will be looking for the highest quality food at affordable prices, celebrating the very best of Britain’s independent local restaurants. Restaurateurs will be challenged to cook with Gordon in The F Word restaurant for 50 paying diners, and he’ll whittle them down until there are just two finalists battling it out in the series finale.

River Cottage Food Heroes
Gordon’s not the only one celebrating great British grub. Hugh will be blowing Britain’s trumpet in his brand new show, River Cottage Food Heroes. Whether it’s producing honey on a Hackney roof top, or creating a vineyard on a tenement block, there are examples of extraordinary culinary ingenuity all across the nation – and Hugh’s gonna find them.

Put your feet up and get comfy, next season is all about staying in.

Hungry for more? Check out all the Channel 4 food shows

Landshare scheme“>Get growing with Hugh’s Landshare scheme