Happy Halloween!

Eyeball Pasta

It's just so much fun to make creepy food! I love this season. This shrimp mix, minus the olives is also really awesome on crackers.

Have a Creepy Halloween!

Eyeball Pasta

12 oz cooked shrimp
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup white onion, minced
2 tbsp panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp paprika
sliced black olives
4 tbsp White Truffle Garlic Olive Oil, divided
1 jar pesto, at least 8 oz
1 package Squid Ink Pasta*
a few cooked crawfish, optional

Cook the pasta according to the directions. Drain and toss with 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Set aside to keep warm.

Take the tails of the shrimp and give the flesh a rough chop. Put in a food processor with the onions and garlic. Blend until mostly smooth. Add up to 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the panko.

Form the shrimp mix into balls and press one olive slice into the side. These do not have to be cooked. Sprinkle with the paprika.

Toss the pasta with the pesto and sprinkle the 'eyes' around the plate. If you want, bury some crawfish so that they peek out of the pasta. They aren't super important, they just look creepy.

*a tip: Do NOT toss the pasta with the pesto and the eyes. Just the pesto. They eyes take on the color of the pesto and you will have green eyeballs in no time.

Squid Ink pasta is avaliable in our store. If you can't get here in time, take regular pasta and add black food coloring to the cooking water. (I haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to work!) Good luck!

Pumpkin Hummus

Oh pumpkin. I have so much love for pumpkin. If you don't, you may want to skip the next week or so of posts!

Pumpkin Hummus

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

1 can Garbanzo Beans

1/2 can Pure Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 tbsp Citrus Habanero Olive Oil

1 tbsp Greek Honey

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper, plus more for garnish

1 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Tahini

Put the garlic, salt, tahini and the beans into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the pumpkin and cayenne pepper. Process slowly, adding in the olive oil by the tablespoon until you get to your desired consistency. Fold in the pumpkin seeds. Save a couple for the top.

Top with a little more pumpkin seeds a sprinkle of cayenne and the honey.

Roasted Pumpkin with Honey Date Balsamic Butter

I love pumpkin. Homemade pumpkin puree is always best, and you can customize it to be exactly what you want it to be. It is very easy as well. All you need is a sharp knife and a half hour with an oven. You can eat this straight off the rind, or serve it as a side dish. I plan to use this as a side dish for some ham steaks, but it may never make it.

I finally ran out of last year's stash of canned pumpkin. I take advantage of the massive sales that they have on them at this time of year and stockpile it. I eat pumpkin cookies well into July every year. You never know when you need a fall fix.

If I had the time to can vegetables, I would buy so many pumpkins! I'm thinking pumpkin puree and homemade pumpkin butter. Unfortunately, I will have to make do with this batch of pumpkin and deep pumpkin dreams.

Roasted Pumpkin with Honey Date Balsamic Butter

1 small pumpkin, pie pumpkin sized

 Per every cup of pumpkin:
1 tbsp plain varietal Olive Oil, I used Balsari
1 pinch salt

Sauce:
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup Honey Date Balsamic

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Depending on the size of your pumpkin, halve or quarter it and cut each piece into thin slices. Make everything pretty uniform, 1/2 or 1 inch thick, or you will have some very crispy slices. It is also up to you if you want to cut the skin off or not. It will not change the cooking time.

Toss the slices with the olive oil and spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Don't crowd them too much, you can always bake two trays at once. Sprinkle the pinch of salt over them and roast them. This is where the thickness of your slices matters! Check them at 15 minutes. They should be almost fork tender.

Melt the butter and stir in the Honey Date Balsamic. At 15 minutes, brush this mixture over top the pumpkin slices. Close up the oven again and continue baking for another 10 - 15 minutes.

You could let the pumpkin cook fully first and then dress with the Honey Date sauce, but I love the little caramelized crispy balsamic bits you get when it is roasted with them. Go your own way!

Serve as a side, chopped on top of a salad (with walnuts) or just for dinner. Have fun with it!