Greater Boston is haunted by a wave of spooky Halloween sweets, sips and treats that seem to grow more creative and tastefully gruesome each year.
Tavern in the Square in Salem offers the Hocus Pocus cocktail, an adults-only tribute to the atmospheric autumn cult-favorite flick “Hocus Pocus” starring Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. The movie was filmed here in the Witch City.
“Halloween gets a little crazy in Salem,” said Tavern in the Square operations manager Sal Gesamondo. Mixologist John Rizzo uses Misty Stix dry-ice swizzle sticks to safely add a spooky fog that floats over the cocktail.
Mix Hocus Pocus party punch at home and serve it in a hollowed-out pumpkin; you’ll find dry ice and Misty Stix (mistystix.com) at Brookline Ice Co. (www.brooklineice.com).
Parenting expert Jenny Chung, founder of Kinsights.com, offers an entire menu of Halloween treats that kids will find fun to make and to eat. Whip up a batch of jack-o’-lantern tortillas or candy corn-colored Rice Krispies treats.
Chef-owner Steve “Nookie” Postal of Commonwealth (commonwealthcambridge.com) extends the bewitching hour with his Halloween hangover Sunday brunch. It’s highlighted by fried bat wings, monster hash and the spooky bloody mary.
Barrett’s Haunted Mansion of Abington (www.bhmansion.com) offers tips for sweet-and-savory family-friendly dishes each autumn. This year they’ve created jack-o’-lantern stuffed peppers and monster mash meatloaf that you can form into the creepy shape of a hand or foot for a ghoulish dinner. The haunted mansion is open through Saturday.
And a Halloween classic gets an upscale makeover this week from Dante de Magistris of Il Casale in Belmont and Lexington, who turns tried-and-true roasted pumpkin seeds into a seasonal salad oil.
Tavern in the Square Salem Hocus Pocus Punch
8 oz. Smirnoff Passion Fruit Vodka
4 oz. blue Curacao
10 oz. cranberry juice
About 4 oz. Sprite
2 to 3 Misty Stix dry-ice swizzle sticks
Fill a punch bowl, fish bowl or hollow pumpkin halfway with ice. Pour in vodka, curacao and cranberry juice. Stir well. Top with Sprite. Add swizzle sticks to create spooky fog. Serves 4 to 6.
Kinsights.com Jack-O’-Lantern Quesadillas
8 flour tortilla shells
2 to 3 c. favorite cheese, shredded
2 T. softened butter
Use a small, sharp knife to cut a jack-o’-lantern design in four of the tortillas. Set aside the pieces cut from the tortilla. Lightly butter one side of all 8 tortillas. Brown face-side of tortilla in medium-hot heavy pan, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Place each whole tortilla buttered-side down in pan and top with cheese. Place jack-o’-lantern face tortilla on top; insert reserved piece of carved tortilla on top of face to create appearance of pumpkin stem. Cook until cheese melts. Serves 4.
Kinsights.com Candy Corn Rice Krispies Treats
3 T. unsalted butter
1 10-oz. bag marshmallows
6 c. Rice Krispies
Yellow and orange food coloring
Melt butter over low heat in a large sauce pan. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Separate melted marshmallows into three bowls, about 4 ounces in one bowl, about 3 ounces in the next and about 2 in the last. Add yellow food coloring to the large portion and orange food coloring to the medium portion. Add cereal to each bowl and stir until well coated. Using a buttered spatula or wax paper, press the cereal into a 9-inch round pan coated with cooking spray; yellow on outside, then orange, and plain white in the center. Let cool. Cut the treats into triangles with a pizza slicer or sharp knife. The three layers should look like candy corn pieces when finished. Serves 8 to 12.
Barrett’s Haunted Mansion Monster Mash Meatloaf
E lb. ground beef
D lb. ground veal
1 egg
1 c. bread crumbs
1 T. parsley, chopped
1 T. fresh garlic, chopped
A c. roasted red pepper, diced fine
A c. favorite barbecue sauce
A c. parmesan cheese
A c. red onion, diced fine
2 pinches white pepper
Small, half-moon-shaped white onion slices
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except onion slices in a bowl and mix well. Shape mixture into a hand shape; a hand-shaped gelatin, cake or ice mold from local party store or cookware store can help. Place meat on cookie sheet, remove mold, and place onion slices on end of fingers to create fingernails. Bake until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, about 25 to 30 minutes. Pipe favorite mashed potatoes around edges of hand. Serves 4 to 6.
Dante de Magistris’ Il Casale Pumpkin Seed Oil
Seeds from 1 sugar pumpkin, rinsed and cleaned
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss pumpkin seeds generously with olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Place seeds on a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Place seeds in a food processor and grind until pulverized. Place mixture in cheese cloth and squeeze by hand to extract oil. Use as a dressing on a seasonal salad, such as roast pumpkin, ricotta, sage and lemon zest. Yields about 2 tablespoons of oil.