Eyeballs and other delicacies (or frightfully fabulous)

Recipes: Corpse strings (squid ink pasta) with eyeballs (mushrooms) and grave moss (greens), Brown butter pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel frosting

 

 Halloween is over for another year (ooh, it was fun!), but I promised to give you a couple more recipes from our Dreadfully Delicious party menu. Look at those pumpkin cupcakes! They are covered in salted caramel frosting, and we ate more salted caramel (in the jar in the background) over ice cream after we had finished the cakes. Wow! These were a late substitution for the Graveyard Cake because we just couldn't resist. Can't wait to tell you about them . . .

 

But first, the Corpse Strings. OK, the Strings are merely squid ink linguini pasta, because it's black and co-incidentally scrumptious. We tossed the pasta with Eyeballs, which are sauteed whole button mushrooms, and Grave Moss, a.k.a. cooked mixed deep greens (kale, chard, spinach), in Alfredo sauce.  It was addictive! So, now that Halloween is past, we can ditch the gross name and put the dish into our cooking repertoire for real.

 

Squid Ink Pasta with Mushrooms and Greens (for two)

 

Squid ink (black) pasta is available in many specialty stores, especially those who specialize in Italian products. It is also available on the internet at Amazon.

• 1/2 pound dried squid ink linguini or similar shape pasta
• sea salt
• 1/3 pound small whole button mushrooms
• 5 tablespoons butter (divided)
• 4 cups or more of deep greens (kale, chard, spinach), or any one of those greens. If the greens are not small baby greens, wash and slice them into rough strips.
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Brush any debris off the mushrooms (do not wash them) and cut the stems even with the caps. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add all the mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and saute, stirring, until the mushrooms are coated with butter. Cover the mushrooms and let them cook over medium low heat, stirring once or twice, until they begin to brown and release their liquid (about 10 minutes). Take off the cover and turn the heat up to medium to cook off the liquid. Put the mushrooms aside in a bowl.

 

In the same skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the greens a cup at a time, stirring and lifting with tongs until they reduce in size. Then continue to add more until you have used them all and they are cooked and wilted (5 - 10 minutes total). Put the greens aside in the same bowl as the mushrooms.

 

Bring a large pot of water to the boil to cook the pasta. When it is boiling, add a good tablespoon of sea salt. Add the pasta and lift the strands several times with tongs to separate them. Let them continue to cook while you make the Alfredo sauce.

 

In the same skillet you used for the mushrooms and the greens, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Add the cream and cook it over medium heat until it reduces by half and thickens. Add half the grated Parmesan and turn off the heat, stirring to mix the cheese in.

 

When the pasta is al dente (taste it), drain it. This time there's no need to save any of the pasta water. Turn the heat on medium low under the Alfredo sauce, and add the cooked mushrooms and greens to it. Mix it well. Add the pasta and the rest of the Parmesan to the skillet. Toss carefully over low heat for a few minutes.

 

You're done. This pasta is delicious hot, and equally good after sitting at room temp for a couple of hours, so it's pretty versatile. At the party, we served it with hot garlic bread. Yum.

 

 

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

 

This recipe comes straight from a blog called Two Peas & Their Pod. I am not going to lie, I'm giving you the recipe just as they gave it. I'm not even going to claim to have made it, as I am no baker. Have you seen many dessert recipes on this blog? No indeed. I'm a cook, but no baker. My BF's gorgeous and talented daughter made the cupcakes and they were to die for. I ate them for breakfast with coffee the next day too, they were that good. In fact, we had to hide a couple in the fridge because everybody at the party wanted to take some home. Hmmm.

 

Yield: 15 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

For the frosting:

• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

The salted caramel sauce:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes

To make the brown butter pumpkin cupcakes: preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown, Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and brown butter. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire cooling rack and cool completely before removing cupcakes.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the salted caramel frosting. First, make the salted caramel sauce. Make sure you have all of the ingredients ready. Once you start the caramel sauce you have to pay close attention so you don't burn it. To begin, heat the sugar over medium high-heat in the bottom of a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan. When the sugar starts to melt, start whisking the sugar. The sugar will clump up, but keep whisking. It will continue to melt. When the sugar is melted, stop whisking. You can swirl the pan to move the sugar around.

Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches a deep amber color. Make sure you watch the pan very closely. This is where it is easy to burn the caramel. You want the caramel to reach 350 degrees F. If you are new to making caramel, I suggest using a thermometer.

As soon as the sugar reaches the dark amber color, carefully add the butter. Whisk until butter is melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in the heavy cream. Whisk until cream is incorporated and caramel is smooth. Whisk in the fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes.

Let the caramel sauce cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Pour the caramel into a large mason jar and cool to room temperature.

To make the frosting: beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Turn off the mixer, and then add the salted caramel sauce. Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes.

Frost the cooled pumpkin cupcakes with the salted caramel frosting and and drizzle cupcakes with extra salted caramel sauce, if desired. They freeze well. If you're having people over, hide a couple extra for morning coffee.