Halloween Recipe: Guacamouldy & Terrifying Tortillas

‘tis the season of scare and with Halloween on the horizon, it dictates that dining gets creepy, camp and creatively kitsch. Who says adults can’t enjoy Hallowe’en?

Guacamouldy

Everyone has their own recipe for guacamole, and arguably this isn’t a seasonal recipe in any sense. However, there’s something so satisfying about making food blue on this particular night of the year and we couldn’t be happier to turn healthy eating ingredient of the moment, avocado, into a mouldy, slowly decomposing dinner party starter or pre-drinks nibble. YUM! The gorgeous green of guacamole is the perfect vehicle for spooky silliness in the form of a liberal crowning of artificial mould.

For the guacamole

• 4 large avocados
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar

For the artificial mould

• 2-3 tbsp Panko breadcrumbs
• Blue food colouring

Method

1.   Firstly, for the mould, simply combine the Panko and the food dye. You can use a mix of blue and black food colourings if you like, in order to get that darker blue hue. Or you can add some Worcestershire sauce to blue dye to make it a darker colour.

2. Make your own guac; people are quite particular, so whether you want lots of garlic, no tomatoes, heavy seasoning, a dash of Tabasco or a super secret ingredient – do it your way, we don’t need to tell you how to mash together these ingredients, do we?

3. Sprinkle half the mould over the guacamole and stir to combine, then finish with a light sprinkling over the top.

Halloween tortilla chips

Now, we cannot expect you all to eat that lovely ‘gone-off’ guacamouldy alone, so we’ve devised something to dip into it, which we like to call ‘the simplest homemade tortilla chips ever’. These are large tortilla wraps cut in shapes and cooked ‘til crisp in the oven. We like to make crescent moons, witch hats and pumpkin shapes – all requiring minimal skill and effort, as perfection is not expected here.

For the tortillas

• 1 large packed of tortilla wraps
• Scissors
• Cardboard/strong paper

For the colouring

• Water
• Mustard powder
• Turmeric
• Unsmoked Paprika
• Worcestershire Sauce

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C as you draw out the shape(s) that you want your tortilla chips to be on the card or strong paper, with a pencil. Our pumpkin shape was the size of an adult’s palm.

2. Hold the template and the wrap together (it may be easier to cut the wrap in half or quarter before doing this, depending on the shape’s size) and carefully trim along the cardboard to get your tortilla shape.

3. Using a pair of sharp scissors cut out a guide shape using a piece of cardboard or very strong paper. Holding against each wrap, simply cut around the template to get your shape. When finished, don’t throw away the offcuts – you can absolutely use them too, chopped into jagged shapes or something similarly spooky for those feeling creative.

4. For colour, dunk the witch’s hat shapes into a mixture of Worcestershire and soy sauce or you could use a purple food colouring. Brush the pumpkin shapes with a mixture of 1 tsp of mustard powder and 1 tsp of ground turmeric, mixed and slackened with a little water. Don’t forget to brush both sides in that gorgeous burnt orange! You can keep the moon shapes plain white.

5. Arrange on a lined baking sheet and cook at 180°C for 5-7 minutes. You’ll know when they’re done as they will have dried out, gone crispy with a few darkened bits and begun to slightly curl at the edges.

Dip if you dare, these are a real scream!

For more Halloween recipes, check out our super Halloween post here, as well as our devilishly delicious chocolate, beetroot and raspberry ‘bloodies‘ recipe.