5 scarily mouth-watering dishes for Halloween

Whether your guests are kids, kids at heart or simply appreciate getting together with friends to enjoy a good time with good food, Halloween gives the perfect excuse to get into the spirit of things.

Mediterranean Delicacies takes the festival to new delicious heights with ghostly pizza and other frighteningly delightful Halloween food creations.

Let the party begin with these 5 scarily, mouth-watering dishes for you to enjoy … if you dare!

Pizza dough

*Use this recipe as base for pizza and all recipes below which use dough.

Ingredients 
2 cups (500 ml) flour
2 t (10 ml) instant yeast
1 t (5 ml) sugar
1/2 t (2,5 ml) salt
3/4 cup (185 ml) lukewarm water
1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil

Method
• In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt together.
• Add water and olive oil and mix until a sticky dough forms.
• Knead until the dough becomes soft and pliable.
• Cover and let it rise in a warm area for about 15-30 minutes until doubled in size.
• Pre-heat oven to 220° C for at least 20 minutes.
• On a well-floured surface, roll out into a round shape.
• Transfer to a large baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake at 220° C for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and thoroughly cooked.

Spider sausages

Ingredients
Spaghetti
Sausages
Salt
Oil
Squid ink pasta
Large pot
Mozzarella cheese
Nori (seaweed)
Calamata olives

Method
• Cut up raw viennas into bite sizes.
• Pierce uncooked spaghetti through viennas (see image as reference).
• Place a large pot of boiling water on high heat with water and a pinch of salt.
• Gently place the spaghetti and viennas into the boiling water, try not to break the spaghetti.
• Cut up small circles of mozzarella for the white of the eyes and cirles of olives for pupils. Slice rectangular strips of Nori for the mouth.
• Once spaghetti and viennas are cooked, decorate viennas with mozzarella, olives and nori for the eyes and mouth.

Tip:
• Squid ink pasta is available at most supermarkets.
or
• Use black food colourant to dye your pasta. Simply place your cooked viennas and spaghetti in a self-sealed plastic packet filled with colourant and water. Shake the packet. Wait 5 minutes for colour to seep through. Pat dry with a paper serviette.

Meatball mummy rolls

Ingredients
Dough
Onion
Salt and pepper
500g mince
Sundried tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese
Greek olives
Tomato sauce
Sundried tomato pesto

Method
• Preheat oven to 220° C.
• In a large saucepan, brown diced onions with oil, salt and pepper. Add in mince and cook until brown. Stir in a pinch of rosemary and a tsp of beef stock.
• Roll out dough and cut into thin strips, roughly 1cm by 20cm.
• On an oven tray, lay out a rectangular piece of dough as the base for your meatball roll. Line up 3 – 4 meatballs on the base. Add the thin strips of dough starting from the base and wrapping each strip around the mince, creating crisscross patterns, until most of the meatballs are encased in the roll.
• Place in the oven until dough is light brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• Cut up mozzarella into small circles for the eyes and black olives for the pupils. Add the final touch by garnishing the dish with tomato sauce or sundried tomato pesto.

Monster bolognese

Ingredients
Spaghetti
Salt
1 tbsp oil
1 onion
500g mince
Sundried tomatoes
Calamata olives
1 tin of whole tomatoes
Rosemary
1 beef or chicken stock cube
1 small tomato

Method
• Heat the oil in a large pan. Add finely chopped onions. Cook until onion becomes translucent. Mix in the mince and allow to brown. Add sliced sundried tomatoes and tin of whole tomatoes. Add tsp stock and pinch of rosemary.
• Cook pasta according to instructions on packet.
• Place the cooked pasta onto a plate, arranging the pasta to look like strands of hair. Add the bolognese in the centre of the pasta.
• Cut mozzarella cheese into doughnut shaped rings for the white of the eyes. Insert olives for the pupils. Cut mozzarella into triangular shapes for the teeth and slice olives into quarters for the eyebrows and moustache (don’t forget the spider too!).

Spider web pizza

Ingredients
Pizza dough
Sundried tomato pesto
Mozzarella xheese
Calamata olives

Method
• Preheat oven to 220° C.
• Cut out pizza dough into small circles and place onto a baking tray.
• Smear on the sundried tomato pesto.
• Cut mozzarella cheese into thin strips and decorate pizza in the shape of a spider web as follows: start with a small circle or diamond shape in the centre. Add additional circles around the first and each successive circle. Crisscross lines across the circles.
• Cut olives into thin strips, bend and place around a whole olive to form the shape of the spiders.
• Place pizza tray into the centre of the oven for about 10 min until base is crispy and cheese has melted.
• Place on plate when cooked and decorate further with your olive spiders.

Casper the friendly pizza

Ingredients
Pizza dough
Sundried tomaro pesto
Bacon
Sweetcorn
Greek olives
Coriander pesto
Mozzarella cheese

Method
• Preheat oven to 220° C.
• Roll out pizza dough onto baking paper.
• Spread sundried tomato pesto over dough.
• Cut up mozzarella cheese into shapes of ghosts by putting together a round shape for the head, triangle shape for the body, half circles/ovals for the arms.
• Cut olives into quarters to decorate spiders and complete the faces of the ghosts.
• Cut bacon into chucks and sprinkle over pizza along with sweet corn and coriander pesto.
• Place pizza in oven for around 15 min until base is crisp and your cheese ghosts are melted.

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