What
better way to shock your Halloween guests than to serve green soup with two
eyeballs peering up at them, or a spiderweb stretching it’s way across the bowl
- it’s like a scene from Beetlejuice minus the creepy shrimp hand grabbing at
your face. The soup itself is flavorful enough – a simple pea soup with garlic
and scallions. Although the ideal time of year to serve pea soup is in the
spring when there are an abundance of fresh peas around, frozen peas suffice
for this green Halloween soup.
Caitlin: For the eyes, I used tiny potatoes and
parboiled them, then I added pimento stuffed green olives in the top. You can
also use pearl onions and stuff them with olives as well. I didn’t eat the
eyeballs with the soup, but I suppose you can – I really didn’t think it
complimented the soup, it was more about the shock value.
Monica: I
chose to add an extra ingredient to enhance the flavor of my soup. Instead of
using 1 scallion, I decided to add a head of roasted garlic. I’ve had roasted garlic and pea soup in the
past, and I enjoy the flavor combination of the sweet, caramelized roasted
garlic and sweet peas. After
making the soup, to make it even more festive, I topped it with a spiderweb
design. The spiderweb design was made from a mixture of sour cream and a bit of
milk. This just added a great final
touch, and brings a fun element your guests are sure to appreciate.
Ingredient List
4 cups frozen peas
1 head of roasted garlic (if using)
4 cups frozen peas
1 head of roasted garlic (if using)
1
scallion (if not using the roasted garlic)
3
cups boiling water, from the kettle
Vegetable
or Chicken stock cube
1
ball mozzarella, diced (approx 10 oz)
**if making potato eyeballs:
8
– 10 little, round potatoes
Pimiento
stuffed olives
**if making spiderweb topping:
3
tbs sour cream
1
tbs milk
Plastic
condiment bottle
Toothpick
Method
*Roasted
Garlic: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If
using the roasted garlic, make ahead because it takes 45 minutes – 1
hour to roast. Cut off the top of the head of garlic, place on a small
square of aluminum foil, drizzle the garlic with olive oil, and wrap
tightly (like a small parcel) in the foil and put in oven for 45 minutes
to 1 hour, until the garlic is soft.
To
make the soup:
Cook
the frozen peas and scallion (if using) in the boiling water with the stock
cube until tender and cooked through.
Put the peas in the blender.
Add
the diced mozzarella to the peas in the blender. Liquidize the soup until smooth.
Top
with spiderweb or garnish with potato eyeballs.
To
make the potato eyeballs:
Parboil
little potatoes. Scoop out some of the middle, but do not hollow out, as you
are going to place the olives in the middle of the eyeball. Place olive in the
middle of the potato. Place 2 eyeballs in each bowl.
To
make the spiderweb topping:
Prepare
a mixture of 3 tablespoons of sour cream and 1 tabelspoon of milk. Fill a
plastic condiment bottle with the mixture.
Carefully
squeeze several circles (like a spiral form) on the surface of warm soup.
Use
a toothpick to drag lines from the center out toward the edges to create a web
design.
Variations
You can use a head of roasted garlic, instead of the scallion to flavor the soup.
You can opt to drain the peas after boiling, before pureeing.
Playlist
Caitlin: In
honor of all things Halloween, we listened to a mix of our favorites -
Purple People Eaters, Werewolves of London, Nightmare Before Christmas
music, and of course John Williams’ song for Darth Vader.
Monica: I chose to continue the Halloween theme and mixed up some spooky classics you can enjoy any day of the year:
1) Ghost Town – The Specials
2) Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora) – Harry Belafonte
3) Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
4) People are Strange – The Doors
5) Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
Caitlin: We
had just made the swamp juice, so we drank it with the slime soup and
then topped off our creepy lunch with the Franken pudding pops.
Monica: If
you are going to enjoy the Ghoulish Cider for dessert, I would
recommend a vodka martini for dinner – preferably a Kettle One Martini
with two olives. If you are making the potato eyeballs, you could
possibly use the same olives for your drink.
A Recipe to Remember?
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