Recipes for Samhain feature the last of the fall fruits and vegetables such as storage apples, cooking pears, squashes, and pumpkins. Most farmer's markets are closed, but orchards usually stay open through the end of October or even into November. This is the season of death, hunting, and butchering so many varieties of meat are now available. Colors include black, orange, purple, and brown. For background and ritual ideas, see our main Samhain page.
Fruit Pie Filling or Dessert Topping
Ingredients:
about a bucketful of cooking pears or apples 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 2/3 cups sugar 1 cup apple cider 1 1/2 tablespoons Saigon cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice
Directions:
Peel the fruit. Cut off any bad spots. Cut the fruit into chunks and collect it in a large bowl. Periodically pour a tablespoon of lemon juice over the fruit chunks and stir, so they don’t turn brown. You should have about a gallon of chopped fruit, total.
Put the fruit chunks into a big pot and set it on the stove. Turn the heat on low simmer. Add 1 2/3 cups sugar, 1 cup apple cider, 1 1/2 tablespoons Saigon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon allspice. Stir.
Allow the fruit to cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. When done, it should be slightly tender but not mushy.
Spoon the fruit into freezer containers and freeze for later.
Notes:
I first used this recipe with cooking pears. It also works with cooking apples, or any other fruit that is relatively firm and not too sweet.
I used white sugar in this recipe. You could substitute brown sugar or other sweetener for part or all of that, to customize the flavor.
If you don’t have apple cider, other suitable fruit juices include pineapple or orange juice. Use what you have and like; most acidic fruit juices should work.
Saigon cinnamon is a very potent type of powdered cinnamon; it tastes like redhots. Use whatever combination of spices you like. I have also made this recipe using a combination of powdered ginger and fresh or frozen grated ginger root. Other good spices for fruit include clove, nutmeg, mace, and lemon balm.
Use this precooked fruit for pie filling, ice cream topping, or other dessert purposes.
This recipe was originally published in The Wordsmith's Forge on 10/10/08, then revised for reprint 6/23/11.
Garlic Cheese Toast
Ingredients:
bread butter garlic powder shredded cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Spread butter over each piece of bread. Arrange the pieces on the baking sheet, butter side up.
Sprinkle garlic powder over each piece of bread. Top with shredded cheese.
Place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted golden-brown. Remove from oven and serve.
Notes:
When I made this, I used some nice square rolls that had been sliced in half; I simply opened them up and spread butter on the cut sides. However, it should also work fine with ordinary sliced bread, or buns, etc. Bread for making toast doesn’t need to be soft, so this is a good way to use slightly stale bread.
Butter, margarine, or similar bread spread should all work fine. Use what you have and like.
If you wish, some pieces can be made with only garlic powder (for people who dislike cheese) or only cheese (for people who dislike garlic powder).
This took only a little longer to set up than premade garlic toast. It tasted good, and did not contain the obnoxious additives found in most commercial foods.
This recipe was originally published in The Wordsmith's Forge on 11/7/09, then revised for reprint 6/23/11.
Maple Roasted Chicken and Root Vegetables
Ingredients:
1 chicken (either whole or cut up) 1/2 cup pure maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns 1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seeds 1 pound baby potatoes 4 carrots vegetable oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325º. Use cooking spray to grease a 13 x 9 pan. Scrub the potatoes and peel the carrots. Coarsely chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Spread them over the bottom of the pan.
Crush the white peppercorns and the coriander in a mortar & pestle. Add the salt. Pour 1/2 cup maple syrup into a small bowl, then stir in the spice blend. Use a pastry brush to dab about half of the spiced maple syrup over the top of the vegetables.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. If whole, place it in the center of the pan; if in pieces, arrange them so they cover the vegetables. Brush all exposed areas of the chicken with the remaining spiced maple syrup. Trickle a little vegetable oil into the pan at the corners
Put the pan in the oven for half an hour. Then take it out and baste the chicken with the drippings in the bottom of the pan. If the chicken is in pieces, flip them over with tongs. Put the pan back in the oven for another half-hour. Take it out, baste it again, and check for doneness. If it’s not done, turn the oven up to 425º and put the pan in for half an hour. Check it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Notes:
The original version of this recipe came from my friend Moonwriter; I’ve tinkered with it a bit since then.
I have made this with a whole chicken and a cut-up chicken; it works equally well both ways.
The spice blend is flexible. This version is pretty mild; you could jazz it up by adding more pepper or some other hot spice.
Any root vegetables will work in this recipe. I used what I had available. Other possibilities: sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, beets, fennel.
We got the chicken in a meat-market bundle for about $2/pound. The potatoes were $3 and the carrots were half a bag that had cost $2. So the whole thing probably cost around $10 and fed seven people comfortably.
This recipe was originally published in Cheap Cookin' on 8/15/08, then revised for reprint 6/23/11.
Persephone Sorbet
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups water 1 bag rosehip-hibiscus tea 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup light corn syrup 1 cup pomegranate juice 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions:
In a small saucepan, heat the water to just below boiling, and steep the tea bag for five minutes. Remove the tea bag.
Add the sugar and corn syrup, then stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Stir pomegranate juice and lemon juice into cooled syrup. Freeze in ice cream machine according to manufacturer directions, about 30 to 40 minutes. Makes about 1 quart of sorbet.
Notes:
Several brands of rosehip-hibiscus tea are commercially available, but you can also blend your own and put the loose tea in a tea ball.
Pomegranates are sacred to the goddess Persephone, who returns from Hades to join her mother Demeter each year at the spring equinox.
This sorbet comes out a beautiful rosy-red color that adds a festive touch to Samhain or Ostara feasts.
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Ingredients:
3/4 cup pure pumpkin pulp 2 1/4 cups half-and-half 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ginger dash of nutmeg dash of clove 1/2 cup white sugar 1/8 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup pure pumpkin pulp and 2 1/4 cups half-and-half. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, a dash of nutmeg, and a dash of clove; whisk to combine.
Slowly pour in 1/2 cup white sugar, whisking until dissolved. Firmly pack
1/8 cup light brown sugar. Add it to the bowl, whisking until dissolved.
Turn ice cream machine ON. Pour the ice cream batter into the tumbler bowl, scraping the mixing bowl to get all the spices out. Freeze for 25 minutes.
Transfer the ice cream into a container and store in the freezer until fully set.
Notes:
Pure pumpkin pulp comes in a can, precooked. This is different from pumpkin pie filling, which has spices and sweetener already added. You could probably make the ice cream with pumpkin pie filling and just the half-and-half. If you want to start with raw pumpkin, you'll need to cook it down first.
I used half-and-half from real Jersey cows, courtesy of a local dairy. Commercial half-and-half will work, although it's not as rich. The ratio of pumpkin to half-and-half is one part to three parts.
The spice blend given in this recipe lets you assemble flavors from individual bottles. You can use different proportions or spice blends if you wish -- I was going to add allspice, but I forgot. If you have a favorite pumpkin pie recipe, you could use the spice blend from that. Premade pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, or a similar blend should work instead; try about a teaspoon.
This ice cream tends to set fast and firm. By the time it comes out of the tumbler, it's about the consistency of soft-serve. Consider making it a few hours before you plan to serve it, rather than well in advance. If you leave it in the freezer it will get solid enough that it's hard to scoop. It can be microwaved briefly to make it scoopable again. In terms of volume, though, this ice cream doesn't fluff up much from the batter stage.
For a frozen pumpkin pie, simply scrape out the tumbler and pat the partly frozen ice cream directly into a premade pie shell, such as a graham cracker crust. Then let it freeze until set firm as you want it.
This really is "pumpkin pie" ice cream. It tastes exactly the same and the texture is quite similar, especially if you don't let it freeze all the way solid. I made it on request for a friend who helps me taste-test recipes. It was quite a hit.
This recipe was originally published on The Wordsmith's Forge on 12/9/10, then revised for reprint 6/23/11.
Venison Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil About 1 lb. Black Plum tomatoes About 2 lbs. red or chocolate beefsteak tomatoes About 2 lbs. Red Roma tomatoes 1 (15 oz.) can tomato paste 2 small red onions 3 cloves garlic 1/4 teaspoon Muntok white peppercorns 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns 6 juniper berries 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 3/4 teaspoon smoked salt 2 teaspoons dried rosemary 2 teaspoons dried basil flakes 1 tablespoon fresh oregano 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup light brown sugar 2 lbs. ground venison Extra olive oil for cooking venison
Directions: Set a large pot of water to boil; it will need to reach a rolling boil to scald the tomatoes. Set a large pot of cold water beside it.
Wash the Black Plum tomatoes. Cut the ends off and quarter the tomatoes. Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the blender. Add the tomatoes and puree. Pour the pureed tomatoes into the crock pot, turn on Low, and cover the crock.
Wash the Red Roma tomatoes. Cut the ends off. Carefully cut a line down one side. Dunk them, 3-6 at a time, in boiling water for 30 seconds. Transfer them to cold water. Pull the skins off. Put the peeled tomatoes in a bowl. Dice the peeled tomatoes – they’ll pretty much turn to slush – and scrape the results into a bowl.
Pour the Red Roma tomato slush into the crock pot and stir.
Repeat the same process of scalding and dicing with the red beefsteak tomatoes. Add them to the crock pot and stir.
Add the can of tomato paste to the crock pot and stir.
Peel the onions. Dice them, add to the crock pot, and stir.
Peel the garlic cloves and mince them finely. Add to the crock pot and stir.
Put the white peppercorns, black peppercorns, and juniper berries into a mortar & pestle. Grind them together. Add the sea salt and smoked salt. Grind again. Crumble in the rosemary and the basil flakes. Grind again. Pour the seasoning mixture into the crock pot and stir.
Mince the fresh oregano. Add it to the crock pot and stir.
Pour a little olive oil into an electric skillet. Add the ground venison. Use a spatula to break the venison into small crumbles as it cooks. Brown thoroughly. Drain the venison and add it to the crock pot.
Every half-hour or so, stir the sauce. It will eventually cook down and thicken. Watch for the onion to become translucent. The tomatoes should turn to thick liquid with some solid bits. Add the blackstrap molasses, the cornstarch, and the brown sugar as the sauce thickens, until it has the desired texture and flavor.
Serve immediately, or transfer to containers and freeze for later.
Notes:
This recipe requires a large crock pot. Mine holds about a gallon, and at one point it was almost full.
Black Plum is a small exotic tomato with purplish skin and flesh, and a dark robust flavor. Red Roma is a type of “sauce” tomato. These tomatoes are long and narrow, intended to cook down to a nice paste or sauce. The other kind of tomato is often called a “beefsteak” or “slicing” tomato. They are round with firm flesh. Any variety of beefsteak tomato should work. Chocolate or purple ones have a similar dark flavor to the Black Plum tomatoes.
Try to get a can of tomato paste that has only tomato in it, because if there are spices already added, that will affect the flavor.
I used small red onions because that’s what the farmer’s market had. 1 medium red onion would also work. Red onions are less hot than most white or yellow onions, but they have a more complex and slightly darker flavor.
Juniper berries are small and black, a little bigger and softer than peppercorns. They have a tart resinous flavor, good for game and other robust meats.
Smoked salt is a fancy salt, usually made by suspending sea salt over a smoking fire. (Some varieties use artificial smoke flavoring; avoid those.) This is an excellent way to add a smoky flavor to your food.
If the sauce is too juicy, here are some options for thickening: 1) Turn to High and leave the lid off so the sauce will cook down more; check it every ten minutes or so. 2) Add a little more cornstarch. 3) Add a little more tomato paste. 4) Skim off some of the translucent liquid that floats to the top.
If the sauce is too tangy, add more sweetener. This sauce benefits most from a dark, robust sweetener. Molasses is good. Light or dark brown sugar will work. White sugar is too light.
If the flavors sound good to you, but you don’t like a chunky sauce, then you can either: 1) puree the vegetables in a blender before combining them or 2) mash the cooked sauce.
The seasoning is optimized for venison. Other robust game meat, such as elk, would also work. You could make this with lean beef; it just wouldn’t have as bold a flavor.
This recipe made about 12 cups of spaghetti sauce, which I divided into four 3-cup containers. So that’s four meals, each of which will feed 4-5 people. The ingredients cost about $8.
This recipe was originally published in The Wordsmith's Forge on 10/7/08, then revised for reprint 6/23/11.