Halloween Themed Food – Witches Finger Chilli:
I don’t normally bother trying to make Halloween themed dishes. But, if you’ve ever been invited to one of those pot-luck events as a food-blogger you may well feel my pain. For some reason people assume I can cook (that’s OK – I can) and that I can food-style (here we start to depart from the truth) and that I’ll have a portfolio of things I can make which fit every seasonal occasion. The last, well, it’s something of a myth. I can do Christmas and that’s about it!
This year, in an attempt to get it right, I’ve been trying some simple ideas for Halloween.
Naughty Nachos actually started off as one of those spider web nacho things you’ll find – just google and there are thousands of them out there – all with preposterously accurate spiders web toppings made from sour cream or mayo. I tried, for about 20 seconds, before deciding that I’d add Heinz sweet chilli sauce to the sour cream to make what you might call ‘car-crash nachos’ or (because it is an alliteration) naughty nachos. Much easier…you just squirt at random from the squeezy bottle to create something abstract and slightly horrific!
Witches finger chilli comes a lot closer to looking convincing. Again, the idea came from the internet – though the chilli base is my own recipe made a little milder for the sake of infants and nursing mothers who might be at the pot-luck. The fingers are fat little chipolata sausages topped with red pepper fingernails. And, actually they taste pretty good in the context of a chilli. Adding a little barbecue sauce makes for a smokey slightly sweet taste that is perfect comfort food for a cold autumn evening. Other than that, the basic recipe is the one I’ve made for the last 30 years or so.
Here’s the recipe if you need inspiration for tomorrow night. Or, if you just fancy making a chilli, with or without fingers…
Chilli con Carne
Print recipe
| Serves | 4-6 |
| Prep time | 15 minutes |
| Cook time | 1 hour |
| Total time | 1 hour, 15 minutes |
| Meal type | Main Dish |
| Misc | Pre-preparable, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Halloween |
| Region | Mexican |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Rapeseed Oil
- 3 cloves Garlic (peeled and chopped finely)
- 2 Medium Onion (peeled and chopped finely)
- 1 Red Pepper (peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks)
- 1 Green Pepper (peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks)
- 1 can Kidney Beans (drained)
- 1 can Chopped Tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon Heinz Tomato Ketchup
- 2 teaspoons Heinz Barbecue Sauce
- 1-3 teaspoon Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 250g Lean mince
Optional
- 1 packet Chipolata Sausages (If you want to make 'fingers')
- 1-2 hot red chillies (deseeded - this will make a hotter and deeper chilli)
Directions
| Step 1 | Brown the onion and garlic in the oil and remove from the pan |
| Step 2 | Brown the peppers - keeping a few red pepper pieces to one side if you want to make fingers |
| Step 3 | Brown all the mince in batches - don't put too much into the pan at once as you want it to fry not stew. |
| Step 4 | Sprinkle over the oregano and chilli powder and stir to mix well. If you are using fresh chilli add at this time |
| Step 5 | Return the onions, garlic and peppers to the pan |
| Step 6 | Stir through the tomato sauce, tinned tomatoes and barbecue sauce. |
| Step 7 | Bring to a gentle simmer on the hob, then add in the kidney beans |
| Step 8 | Cook for 45 minutes on a low heat, adding water if the mixture looks too dry |
| Step 9 | Taste and adjust seasoning. You can add more chilli at this stage, but of course, you can't take it away - so if you are not sure it is a good idea to use just a teaspoon at the start. |
| Step 10 | Meanwhile, if you are making witches fingers, pop the chipolata sausages in a hot oven for about 15 minutes, turning till they are brown all over |
| Step 11 | Make the fingernails with small bits of red pepper. You can push them into the sausages by making a small cut with a knife about half a cm from the top. Keep them in a warm oven until ready to serve |
| Step 12 | Serve the chilli topped with the witches fingers and with rice or nachos on the side. If you are using whole chilli its a good idea to remove them before serving! |
Do you have any ideas for Halloween dishes? Preferably ones that don’t require professional food styling skills…
If so, do let me know in the comments below.
Disclosure: I was sent some Heinz sauces to make this dish – Heinz tomato ketchup is a must in my Chilli con Carne anyway – and the barbecue sauce added a little ‘seasonal’ flavour – of bonfires and witches cauldrons!
The witches’ fingers kinda freak me out! But, I guess that’s the point of a Halloween dish. I do love a chili though, so I’m sure I could get over it to eat. Very festive idea!
What a brilliant idea for a Halloween recipe – they do resemble witches’ fingers at a glance! I also love recipes with chili in them, yum. 🙂
I think someone better at food styling would do a tidier job of the witches fingers…but it’s a good recipe
I really love anything with a Mexican twist – this looks smashing, and even though Halloween is long gone now I will definitely give it a try. I don’t really care about accurate toppings on nachos, or any food styling – as long as it tastes good 🙂
What a brilliant idea for next year, or even any party x