Halloween

Meal Plan Occasions 1: Special Occasions

Occasion 4 · Halloween

Today at a glance. Halloween is a fun one for 4 people, with sausages wrapped like mummies and a brownie graveyard for pudding. The sausages bake while you make the mash and gravy, and the brownies can be made a day ahead. There is an optional pumpkin soup starter in the main meal. Quantities are for the whole table, in metric with UK names.

Main meal

Main meal · Serves 4 · Pork

Mummy Sausages in Puff Pastry with Mash, Peas and Onion Gravy

Prep: 30 minutesOven: 25 minutesAbout 40 minutes of hands-on workServes 4 (2 mummies each)

Ingredients (4 portions)

  • 8 good-quality pork sausages
  • 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry (about 320 g), chilled
  • 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
  • 2 tsp mustard, for the eyes
  • 1 kg floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper), peeled and cut into chunks
  • 50 g butter
  • 100 ml milk
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, for the gravy
  • 1 tbsp plain flour, for the gravy
  • 1 cube beef stock cube
  • 400 ml hot water for the gravy
  • 1 tsp brown sugar, for the gravy
  • 300 g frozen peas (the "slime")
Make it ahead
Wrap the sausages in the pastry up to 24 hours ahead. Cover them and keep them on a baking tray in the fridge, and glaze them just before baking. The gravy can also be made the day before and reheated.

Method

  1. The mummies: heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Unroll the pastry and cut it lengthways into about 24 thin strips, about 1 cm wide.
  2. Wrap 3 strips around each sausage, overlapping and leaving a small gap near one end for the mummy's face. Press the ends underneath so they stick. Put them on the tray with the gap facing up.
  3. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden and the sausages are cooked through. Cut one open to check there is no pink.
  4. The mash: put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft. Drain, return to the warm pan and mash with the butter and milk until smooth. Season with pepper.
  5. The onion gravy: heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the onions for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and golden. Stir in the sugar for 1 minute, then the flour for 1 minute. Dissolve the stock cube in 400 ml of boiling water and add it gradually, stirring. Simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened.
  6. The slime: boil the peas for 3 minutes, drain and serve them alongside.
  7. Eyes: when the sausages come out of the oven, dot two tiny spots of mustard in the gap of each mummy for eyes (a cocktail stick works well). Serve each person 2 mummies on a mound of mash, with gravy and peas.
Optional extra: pumpkin soup
For a starter, soften 1 chopped onion in 1 tbsp of oil, add 800 g of peeled and cubed pumpkin or butternut squash and 700 ml of hot stock (1 stock cube), simmer for 20 minutes, blend until smooth and season. Swirl a spoonful of cream on top and drag a cocktail stick through it for a spider web. Serve 4 small bowls.
Sausages must be cooked through
Sausages must be cooked until there is no pink in the middle and the juices run clear. Cut one open to check. Chill leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 2 days, reheated once until steaming hot.

Swaps

Vegetarian sausages in place of pork (they need about 5 minutes less). Sweet potato mash. A spoonful of ketchup "blood" on the plate.

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Dessert

Dessert · Serves 4 to 8

Chocolate Brownie Graveyard with Biscuit Tombstones

Prep: 20 minutesOven: 25 minutesAbout 35 minutes of hands-on workServes 4 generously (8 squares)

Ingredients (4 portions)

  • 150 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 150 g butter, cubed
  • 3 eggs
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 100 g plain flour
  • 30 g cocoa powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 6 chocolate sandwich biscuits (the "soil")
  • 4 shortbread fingers or rectangular biscuits (the tombstones)
  • 1 tube white writing icing
  • 1 handful jelly worms or sweets, to decorate (optional)
Make it ahead
The brownies keep well. Bake them the day before and keep them in an airtight tin. Assemble the graveyard on the plates just before you serve.

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Line a 20 cm square tin with baking paper.
  2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (the bowl must not touch the water), and stir until melted and smooth. Take it off the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
  3. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl for 2 to 3 minutes, until thick and pale. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
  4. Sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold gently until just combined. Do not overmix. Pour into the tin and smooth the top.
  5. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the top is set and has a crackly crust, but a skewer pushed into the middle still comes out with a few moist crumbs. Leave to cool in the tin. A slightly gooey middle is exactly right.
  6. The soil: put the sandwich biscuits in a freezer bag and crush them to fine crumbs with a rolling pin.
  7. The tombstones: use the writing icing to write "RIP" on each shortbread finger, and add a few lines or a small cross if you like.
  8. Cut the brownie into 8 squares. Put 2 squares on each plate, sprinkle crumb soil around them, stand a tombstone up in the crumbs and add a jelly worm crawling out of the soil.
Serving idea
Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on the side. Or a pouring of cream.

Swaps

Chopped nuts or white chocolate chips folded into the brownie batter. Orange zest. Raspberries on the plate for "blood".

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Coming up next
Occasion 5 is a birthday, with a build-your-own burger night and a chocolate fudge birthday cake.