Halloween Recipes Kids & Adults Will Love, via Marcia Selden Catering

Halloween is around the corner, and in honor of this ghoulish holiday, Marcia Selden Caterers have created the perfect menu plan for your Halloween party. These dishes are both adult and kid-friendly, and are simple time-saving delicious meals that will leave you plenty of time for dress-up. This is the first in our series, and really... what defines the real joy of Halloween more perfectly than eatable severed body parts? 

Enjoy receipes for: Bloody Brains (Dumplings with Sesame Chili Oil); Bat Sh*t Crazy Wings- Honey BBQ Glazed Chicken Wings; Bloody Fingers in a Blanket; Devil on Horseback (Bacon Wrapped shrimp Skewers with Blue Cheese Dip); & Worms in Dirt- Hijiki Salad. 

Bloody Brains- Dumplings with Sesame Chili Oil

18-24 Asian Dumplings- pork, chicken, or vegetable

1 C. low-sodium soy sauce 

¼ C. Chinese black bean sauce 

¼ C. toasted sesame oil 

4 tsp. minced fresh ginger 

4 tsp. Asian chile-garlic sauce 

4 tsp. mirin or sweet sherry 

For sauce: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside until ready to use.

Using a Chinese bamboo steamer and a wok, bring 3 cups of water in the wok on high heat to a boil.  Brush some sesame oil on the steamer surface to prevent sticking.  Lay the frozen dumplings on the steamer. 

Put the steamer with the lid on the wok, over the boiling water. Keep on high heat, and steam for 8 minutes.  Remove from steamer and toss the dumplings in 1 C. of the sauce. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the dumplings to a tall beaker or glass vase.  

Bat Sh*t Crazy Wings- Honey BBQ Glazed Chicken Wings

1½ lbs. chicken wings, cut at joints and wing tips removed

2 tsp. each- salt, black pepper and garlic powder 

1 Tbs. minced garlic

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

½C. tangy barbecue sauce

¼ C. pomegranate juice

2 Tbs. hot sauce

¼C. honey

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, optional

2 Tbs. butter

3 C. peanut oil, for frying

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay the chicken wings out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and bake for 20 minutes.

Sauté garlic in vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until softened and fragrant. Stir in barbecue sauce, pomegranate juice, hot sauce and honey. Bring to a boil then lower and simmer for 15 minutes until thick. If using crushed red pepper flakes, add and cook 30 seconds more. Stir in butter until melted and smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

Fry the baked wings for 10 minutes until golden and crisp. Transfer to a paper towel lined sheet pan to drain and toss the fried wings in sticky BBQ sauce to coat.

Bloody Fingers in a Blanket(AKA chorizo in puff pastry)

1 lb. chorizo (can also use sausage or Portuguese linguica)

Puff pastry

Red pepper jelly

Cut sausage into 3” pieces and brown in a pan for 3-4 minutes.  Preheat oven to 425.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat mat or spray Pam on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.

Remove sausage from heat and cut a  2” wide pieces of puff pastry into long rectangles.  I like the DuFour brand of puff pastry, but you could even use pie or pizza dough for this.  

Brush the inside of each piece of puff pastry with a little red pepper jelly and roll a piece of chorizo in the pastry until ½ of sausage is enclosed in the pastry.

Bake at 425 for 7-8 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.  

Serve with grainy mustard and Tabasco spiked catsup.

Devil on Horseback- Bacon wrapped shrimp skewers with Blue Cheese Dip

20 strips of bacon (about 12 oz.)

20 medium-large shrimp, shelled and deveined (about 1 lb.)

½ C. barbecue sauce

¼ C. canola oil

3 Tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. dijon mustard

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375°.   Soak 5 to 8 bamboo skewers in water for about 20 minutes to keep them from burning on the grill or under the broiler.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon on a cookie sheet, about 4 minutes. Drain and cool on paper towels. Wrap a piece of bacon around the middle of each shrimp; skewer with bamboo through the point where the bacon ends meet to keep it from unraveling. Thread 3 to 4 shrimp on each bamboo skewer. 

Puree the barbecue sauce, oil, lemon juice, mustard, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper in a blender. 

Preheat a grill, grill pan or broiler. Grill or broil shrimp (on a foil-lined baking sheet, if broiling) for 5 minutes, basting with the sauce once they begin to turn pink. Flip, baste again and grill or broil until just cooked through, about 4 more minutes.  Serve with blue cheese dipping sauce.

Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

1 C. crumbled blue cheese

¾ C. mayonnaise

½ C. sour cream

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Worms in Dirt- Hijiki salad

1 C. dried hijiki seaweed (2 oz.)

2 C. finely sliced purple cabbage

¼ C. soy sauce

¼ C. mirin

2 tsp. sugar

½ tsp. dashi powder dissolved in ½ C. of hot water

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 C. Chinese wonton strips

2 Tbs. seasoned rice vinegar

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Black sesame seeds, for garnish

In a bowl, cover the hijiki with warm water and let stand for 1 hour. Drain, pressing out any excess water. In a small bowl, combine the soy, mirin, sugar, cabbage, and dissolved dashi.  Stir in the hijiki. Add the soy mixture and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Transfer the hijiki salad to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled, 1 hour.   In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar and sesame oil. Add the dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. 

The hijiki salad can be refrigerated overnight. *Dashi powder is available at Japanese markets.