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trick or treat
if you're not one, then you're the other!
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October 19th 2004
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Greetings!
disconnect the doorbell, pad the door knocker, leave a bowl
of candy and a 'help yourself' jack o'lantern on the door step.
forget about stray children wandering the streets dressed as
ghouls (unless, of course, they're yours!)
the weather has finally turned; it's time to cozy up and
hunker down!
stage a halloween stand-off; eat pumpkins intsead of carving
them! get undressed instead of dressed up!
it's a BOO!tiful thing
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marjorie, the white goods queen
an australian halloween tale
it's not easy to get a good halloween story out of an
australian. it's not our thing. we are running around in
the violet glory of spring at this time of the year; the
jacaranda and wisteria are carpeting our cities and the
warmth has returned to the sun
any kid wily enough to knock on a neighbour's door and yell,
'trick or treat' is likely to get the standard reply: 'bugger off!'
the only halloween party I even remember was
organised by
the flock of qantas flight attendants that my flatmate,
spider, had set upon
me
and that's how I wound up in the southern highlands outside
of sydney at a b&b lovingly named 'linger longer'
two of the flight attendants had started it as a nest egg for
their twilight years. warren and murray had decided to
launch their venture on halloween, and thus we all traipsed
up in my little alfa romeo, a car that seemed to keep going
on the strength of its racy memories. the feisty eva sat in
front with me (her black leather catsuit melding with the
upholstery), spider was in the back. he had offered to do
the flowers for the party and this entailed stopping the car so
that he could leap out, garden shears in hand, every time we
passed a half decent garden...plundering mercilessly
the property was a long, continuous row of rooms and there
was a back veranda that ran the length. it was from here that
I got to witness the spectacle of the evening. I was wedged
between murray and eva, who was holding the fattest joint
that I've ever seen. eva nudged me to bring my attention
to a recent arrival in the hallway. 'marjorie's arrived...'
there was a woman, with an impossibly coiffed sugar-frosted
helmet of hair and seamlessy co-ordinated peach ensemble.
behind her were two south african hairdressers, both with
equally frosted 'lady di' hair styles and fruit print blouses.
none of
them were intentionally in costumes
'they call her the white goods queen'
a word to the non-australians, white goods are the big
appliances that you buy; the fridge, the washing machine, the
dish washer and so forth
'she's a chief purser and has a dreadful reputation for having
affairs with pilots when she's on layover, then when she gets
home, she blackmails them. but she never asks for
money...only new appliances. a fridge from a shanghai
stopover, a new stove from a trip to rome...you should see
her kitchen!'
with that, eva whipped the top off the jack o'lantern, dipped
down and re-lit the joint from the candle. took a big drag and
sauntered along the veranda spying on marjorie and her
posse as they cut a swathe from room to room. the south
africans trilling and squealing, marjorie air kissing and
waving...not a single hair moving. she was, of course, on her
way to the kitchen to check out the miele appliances
eventually my curiousity got the better of me and I wandered
inside for a closer inspection. unfortunately, I was suffering
from a sudden surge in appetite and I didn't make it any
further than the buffet, where I settled in quite nicely with a
plate of devilled eggs before passing out all together
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pumpkin and bacon soup
with white corn, buttermilk and cilantro
where we lack halloween tales, we make up for it
with pumpkin recipes; we eat pumpkin all year
round...and usually as a savoury dish
peel and dice: 1 seeded butternut squash or half a
pumpkin; 1 russet potato; one rutabaga (swede); 1
large
onion. place all vegetables into a large soup pot
add: 1-2 pieces of ham shank (or) 8 oz diced bacon
(or) 2-3
bacon bones; 1 chicken stock cube; 1 stick butter
(4oz); 1-2
tspn cracked black pepper; 1 tspn fresh grated
nutmeg; 1
tspn hot paprika
sweat: the vegetables and bacon in the butter for 5
mins then
fill the pot up with water, about 3 inches from the
top. bring
to the boil, lower the heat slightly and let simmer
uncovered
taste: for salt after 1 hour. depending upon the
flavour of the
bacon, you may need to add salt. boil another 20
minutes
blend: in a food processor (in several batches). this
part can
be done days in advance. keep the soup in the fridge
before serving: heat the soup, add the kernals from
1-2 cobs
of white corn. cook another 20 minutes
serve: in bowls with a hearty drizzle of buttermilk or
sour
cream and a handful of chopped cilantro (coriander)
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pumpkin and truffle ravioli
in a burnt butter and sage sauce
there is some halloween magic to this dish: anyone
I've ever
served it to enters such a delirious state that they
roll on
their back, like a puppy waiting to have its belly
rubbed
mix: 1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin; 2 tablespoons
diced,
fried (not crisp) bacon; 2 tablespoons grated
parmesan;
pinch each salt, pepper, nutmeg; 1 tablespoon
breadcrumbs
(they take the excess moisture from the pumpkin)
and 1/4
teaspoon white truffle oil
taste: add more seasoning or truffle oil as desired
spoon: dessertspoonfuls of pumpkin mix along a laid
out
sheet of fresh lasagne pasta. dab some beaten egg
in a
square around each spoonful of pumpkin, fold the
pasta sheet
over. press around the edges to seal each bump of
pumpkin,
then cut into squares with a sharp knife. these ravioli
can be
made well ahead and kept in the fridge (ask marjorie
for
operating instructions)
heat: a pot of salted water to a rapid boil and add
the ravioli.
they will take about 4 minutes to cook. try one to
make sure
that it is 'al dente'
while: the ravioli cook, heat 1 stick of butter in a
skillet, add
6-8 sage leaves. let the butter melt, fry and brown
slightly.
the sage should fry to a crisp
add: porcini mushrooms or brussel sprouts to the
butter
sauce if you like...you'll still have a delirious belly
rubber in
front of you!
take it over the top: make a second batch of ravioli
mixing
mashed carrot, parsnip and rutabaga; butter;
parmesan;
pepper and nutmeg. spoon onto a spinach pasta
sheet, add a
nugget of goat's cheese into each spoonful of filling,
seal and
cut into squares. serve both ravioli together for a full
autumn vegie sensation!
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gingerbread and butter pudding
with pumpkin-pie ice cream and toffee sauce
I was in boston last week and left a freshly baked
loaf of
gingerbread for my buddy, james, to tuck into whilst
he was
house sitting
well, los angelenos are about as comfortable with
carbohydrates as paris hilton is in a full length skirt.
it was
still there when I got home. A little dry with a briused
ego
from the neglect: perfect for a bread pudding!
slice: gingerbread (or use a stale raisin loaf/ plain
bread/
brioche) into slices 1 inch thick. butter both sides.
break into
pieces to line the bottom and sides of a buttered
dish or
individual ramekins
sprinkle: some raisins and dried orange peel onto the
bread,
cover with another layer of bread. add more fruit.
add
another layer, and so forth
mix: 2 eggs; 2/3 cup brown sugar; 1 cup cream; 1
cup
milk; 2 tspns pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tspn cinnamon,
1/2
tspn ginger, 1/4 tspn cloves, 1/4 tspn nutmeg)
pour: custard over the layered bread. let sit 10
minutes, add
more. if bread still looks a little dry, splash some more
milk
over the top
bake: in a preheated (350) oven for 25 minutes
pumpkin ice cream: mix 1 cup cooked pumpkin; 1 1/2
cups
of heavy cream; 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup milk; 1
tablespoon
molasses; 2 tspn pumpkin pie spice; 2/3 cup light
brown
sugar. blend in a food processor. pour into an ice
cream
maker and churn according to instructions
toffee sauce: melt 1 stick butter (4oz); 6 oz heavy
cream; 2/
3 cup of brown sugar. bring to boil, lower heat and
simmer 5
minutes
serve: slabs of hot bread pudding with toffee sauce
spooned
over. dollop some ice cream on top and take a spicy,
sugary
ride to cholesterol heaven
somehow james managed to overcome his aversion
to the
carbs and down 2 helpings...
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jack the lanterns!
say it with pumpkins...
carving a message for a loved one seemed like a great
idea...I found these cute little gourds down at trader
joes, spent an inordinate amount of time deciding what
message to spell out for the significant other...finally settled
on something action bound: 'kiss me'
this would have been followed with 'you fool', but this novice
pumpkin carver was undermined by the thick skin of these
little buggers. the gourds were SO HARD...I nearly broke a
wusthof paring knife on them
and so, with a menacing grin, I threw them all into a rather
large steamer and cooked them for a good 5 minutes. that
made them much easier to carve! beware if you try this:
they build up a little gas during this process and when you
finally get a knife through the skin, there is a somewhat
umbecoming 'release'. watch the knife too (or, more
importantly, the fingers!)
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it's horrible!
please don't get this playlist...
it's halloween...just go rent 'the rocky horror picture show'
and call it a night
failing that, put the soundtrack on and try doing the 'time
warp' on your twister mat. the two of you are bound to wind
up somewhere that you haven't been yet!
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thanks for getting 'bit'
if these pumpkin recipes take your fancy, then there are
loads more on the website. I roasted up a chicken
stuffed with pumpkin, peanuts and kaffir lime last week.
served it with a tamarind & palm sugar glaze
also made a pumpkin, golden syrup and rum cake
(thanks to lisa for the idea)
and check out the pumpkin and gingerbread tiramisu
(yes, one pumpkin can go a looong way!)
orange is the colour of love this month!
mannix@thelovebite.com
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