Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday — the kid in me cannot resist the urge to play dress-up and ask strangers for candy. Last year, I catered a friend's Halloween party and had an absolute blast coming up with "gross" dishes that would fit the holiday. Normally, part of my job as a chef is to design dishes that are visually appealing, but I found that creating food that tastes good but looks scary and disgusting is delightful.
Here are some ideas for making your Halloween party buffet creepy and delicious:
Abby Normal Brain Dip
Using my recipe for Tuscan white bean dip, I added just a touch of black food coloring to create a "gray matter" look. I purchased the skull bowl at the dollar store. Using the back of a wet spoon, I carved some channels on the surface to make it look brain-like.
Puking Pumpkin
For this, I hallowed out a small pumpkin and carved out a mouth. I drew on the rest of the face with a marker so that the Green Goddess vegetable dip I filled it with wouldn't ooze out where I didn't want it to, lined the pumpkin with some plastic wrap and pulled the end out through the mouth and surrounded it with cut up veggies.
The Devil's Eyeballs
To create the spider web effect on the surface of the eggs, I added food coloring to the water when I made the hard boiled eggs. I put a dozen eggs in a large pot of water and brought it to a boil. After 8 minutes, I removed the pot from the heat and scooped out the eggs. I then added some red or black food coloring to the water and returned it to the heat. With the back of a spoon, I cracked the surface of each egg and returned them to the colored water, boiled them for another 4 minutes and let the eggs cool in the water. Then I peeled the eggs and sliced them in half lengthwise, scooped out the yolks and mashed in mayo, mustard, chili paste (I used Sriracha) and salt and pepper. To finish, I scooped some filling into each egg half and cut tiny triangles of red bell pepper for the "devil horns".
