Slithering Salad (Spicy Cucumber Salad)

One of the bright sides to all this 'Stay at Home' time here in California, besides helping curb the infection rate of the COVID-19 virus, is that being at home with nowhere to go has got me tinkering in the kitchen again. No more obligations to distract me from playing around with my Halloween ideas. Last year, I missed blogging my Summer of Halloween recipes so this year, I'm determined to get an early start. Armed with lots of time on my hands and lots of ideas, here's a super simple idea that comes together quick and easy. 

An idea inspired by the cucumber salads served at Japanese restaurants and Sushi places. Cool, crisp cucumbers drizzled in a light soy sesame dressing...it's one of my favorite sides to have with sushi. I spiralized the cucumbers, kicked up the dressing with garlic chili sauce for heat, and added fun plating that turned a simple salad of cucumbers into a dramatic, delicious and festive Halloween recipe.  Stay safe my friends. 

(🎃221 days until Halloween...in case you're wondering🎃)

Slithering Salad (Spicy Cucumber Salad)

Serves 4-6

Spicy Dressing
2 1/2 T rice wine vinegar
1-2 T garlic chili sauce (to taste)
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T honey
1 t. fresh ginger, finely grated

3 English cucumbers
2 juniper berries or whole allspice berries (snake eyes)
Black sesame seeds (garnish)

Prepare dressing. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 

Spiralize the cucumbers:
Use straight cucumbers to get the best results.  

Select the head and tail cucumbers for your snake. Choose a cucumber that has a tapered narrow end to be the tail of your snake, and choose a cucumber that has a long piece of vine attached to it to make the best snake head with his tongue hanging out. The third cucumber will be to lengthen your snake and bridge between the head and tail sections. 

Head cucumber: On the non-vine end of the cucumber, thread a bamboo skewer through the center of the cucumber lengthwise leaving enough of the skewer exposed so you can pull it out later. I left about an inch and a half. This photo below shows a much longer section of the skewer as it was an in progress pic, but the amount of skewer exposed will depend on how big your cucumbers are to begin with.  

Place your threaded cucumber down on the cutting board, and with your knife at about a 45 degree angle, slowly rotate the cucumber as you cut down to the skewer, creating a continuous spiral around the skewer that holds everything in place. 

Adjust as you go. Your cuts will not be even all the way around due to the variation of the cucumbers and how centered your skewer is inside, but don't worry too much about it. Once the cuts are done, the variations of the spirals will hardly be noticeable. 

Continue cutting the spirals until you are about 4 inches from the tip of your snakes tongue. You don't want to cut spirals all the way into his head. Remove the bamboo skewer to release your snake coils. 

Snake eyes: Use the end of a skewer to poke eye holes in the cucumber on opposite sides of the head and then press juniper berries into the eye holes.  If you can't find juniper berries, substitute with whole allspice berries. Trim the tongue if needed.

Once you finish with your "snake head", repeat the spiraling with the tail cucumber. For the tail portion, thread the skewer starting at the tapered narrow end and begin spiraling at the narrow tail end until you reach the the end of the threaded bamboo skewer and trim off any excess unspiraled cucumber. Remove the skewer carefully releasing the coils and set aside. Repeat spiraling with the third cucumber and trim both round ends off the cucumber.  The picture below shows the untrimmed ends of the head and tail sections of spiralized cucumbers.

Arrange snake sections on a serving platter and drizzle with spicy dressing, garnish with black sesame seeds. Slice and serve immediately. 

More Halloween recipes to try:

Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers)

Easy Halloween Kabobs 

Roasted Zombie Brain

Lemon Ginger Sweet Potatoes

Full disclosure... I am not a fan of Thanksgiving yams/sweet potatoes or any of the marshmallow coated casseroles that are so popular this time of year. But last year, I had a sweet potato dish made by my friend, Carina. They were sweet but not overly sweet. They had a hint of citrus, which I thought was orange, but she used lemon, not orange. They were so subtle and sweet and just down right delicious and a nice complement to all the creamy gravy laden dishes of Thanksgiving yummy-ness.  I've been wanting to make a version of her sweet potatoes since last year and that time is finally here. I used her basic recipe of sweet potatoes baked in a brown sugar syrup with lemon slices topping them. I added some ginger, garlic and herbs to complement the lemon and the sweetness of the potatoes and it turned out amazing. Thank you Carina for the inspiration with your delicious recipe. 
                                         🦃Happy Thanksgiving!🦃

Lemon Ginger Sweet Potatoes

Serves 6-8

1.5-2 lbs. sweet potatoes or yams with similar diameter(about 2 lbs)
2-3 lemons, sliced into 1/4" slices
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper (to taste)
Simple brown sugar syrup(see recipe below)
Compound butter(see recipe below)

Prepare Simple Syrup
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2-3 slices of fresh peeled ginger
lemon peel of one lemon

Add sugar, water, ginger and lemon peel into a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, until sugar is completely dissolved. Turn heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes. Do not strain lemon or ginger from the syrup, leaving it in intensifies the flavors. Let syrup cool and place an air tight container . Refrigerate until ready to use. Can be made up to 3-5 days in advance.  

Prepare Compound Butter
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 T fresh oregano, finely chopped
3 T fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use. Can be made up to 3-5 days in advance.

Prepare Potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice fresh lemon into 1/4" slices, removing seeds from slices and set aside. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4" rounds and add to a large mixing bowl. Generously salt and pepper sweet potatoes. Add cayenne pepper to taste. Note: A quick sprinkle of cayenne elevates the lemon and ginger without much heat. 

Add simple syrup to the sliced sweet potatoes and mix until well coated. 

Spray 9"x 13" casserole dish with cooking spray. Begin stacking sliced potatoes like poker chips into casserole dish, alternating with an occasional fresh lemon slice. 
Remove lemon and ginger slices from the remaining simple syrup in the mixing bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of simple syrup over sweet potatoes.

Top with the compound butter, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. At 30 minutes, remove foil and bake an another 30-40 minutes. Check, adding more time if needed. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes and serve. 

More Thanksgiving Side dishes:

Parmesan Creamed Onions

Corn and Squash Casserole

Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing

Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce)

So I made these deliciously gruesome morsels yesterday after a long hiatus from my kitchen. I had this particular idea in my head all summer and I finally got to toy around with it and it totally paid off!  Not only do these creepy digits look the Halloween part, they taste amazing, and they're really simple to make. 
OK, I'll admit that there is a little prep work in applying the almond fingernails, but you really don't have to add them if you don't want to go to all the trouble.  Shishito peppers already look like gnarly witches fingers all by themselves. But if you're looking for a bit of realism, add the sliced almond fingernails and give them a few minutes in the oven, the almonds will brown which adds to the festive look. Add these to your Halloween buffet to feed a crowd or include them in a Halloween Dinner as a side dish to my Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls made with black rice. Enjoy! 

Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce)

Serves 4-6

Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce
1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T garlic chili sauce
~Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

10-12 oz. Shishito peppers
Sliced Almonds
Black Sesame Seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut off a small tip of the shishito pepper at an angle to make a small opening  for the fingernail. Place a sliced almond to create the witches fingernail. Don't worry if it doesn't fit well, once the peppers are roasted, they'll be softer and the fingernails can be re-positioned. Some will fall out during baking as well and will need to be put back in.   

Place peppers on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Baste peppers with a light coating of sesame soy dipping sauce. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly, sprinkle generously with black sesame seeds and serve with remaining dipping sauce.

 Check out this perfectly creepy blistered witchy finger...looks yucky, tastes yummy! 🎃

Have fun with your plating. I used a small cauldron bowl and placed it on a skeleton hand I got from the 99 last year. I added my old silver sugar cube tongs with super cool claws as my serving utensil. It definitely looks the part of a festive Halloween snack ready to be devoured!

These fingers would be great paired with way cool Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls, made with black rice and Eye of the Beholder Fruit Salad for dessert .

Corn and Squash Casserole

As the days edge closer to Thanksgiving, I'm feverishly trying to finish up my Thanksgiving dishes before the big day. I need to finish all these blogs by end of day today, because starting Monday, I need to clean my house, shop, and prep for my family Thanksgiving get together. So what type of dish hits our table every Thanksgiving? Casseroles! Yes. Cheesy, comforting, satisfying casseroles. Whether its green bean casserole, creamed corn casserole, a potato gratin or stuffing, I love them all. SO this year I wanted to try a casserole with squash and corn and it turned out incredible. Check out this beauty shot below....loaded with yellow and green squash, corn and onions, two kinds of cheese and topped with cheesy panko breadcrumbs creating a caramelized crust of cheesy goodness just under the surface. Delicious and perfect for Thanksgiving!

Corn and Squash Casserole

adapted recipe from Plain Chicken

Serves 8-10

1 1/2 lbs. yellow squash, diced
1 1/2 lbs. green squash. diced
1/4 tsp. butter
2 cups onions, diced
3 cups corn
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cup shredded white cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare vegetables.  In a large skillet melt butter and add onions and saute until onions are translucent, ~5 minutes. Add squash and corn and saute for about 5 minutes until squash is just beginning to soften, but is not fully cooked. It'll finsh cooking in the oven. Add garlic and heat until fragrant, about 1 minute and then remove from heat. 

Transfer vegetables into a large bowl and allow to cool a bit. Add cheese, mayo, sour cream and beaten eggs and mix well. Add salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix panko flakes and parmesan reggiano cheese together. Add about half the breadcrumb mixture to the vegetables and give it a stir. Spray your casserole dish with cooking spray and transfer the vegetable mixture to your prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining breadcrumb mixture and bake uncovered in the oven about 30-40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Enjoy!

Other recipes to try:

Potato Cauliflower Gratin

Parmesan Creamed Onions

Sweet Onion Casserole

Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing

The turkey may get center stage every Thanksgiving, but for me the side dishes are the stars of the show and this Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing is sure to steal the show on Turkey day. A Latin-inspired stuffing that blends traditional corn bread stuffing ingredients like corn bread, celery, carrots and onions with chorizo, fresh corn, green chiles, salsa and fried corn tortillas. Then instead of slathering the whole thing with gravy like traditional stuffing, I topped mine with crunchy corn tortilla strips, crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro and salsa! Flavor packed comfort food, that's not just for Thanksgiving. Make this casserole for a holiday brunch with a crisp green salad or fruit, or throw a few over-easy eggs on top just like you'd find on traditional Chilaquiles and have it for breakfast on Christmas Morning. Happy Holidays.

Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing

Serves 8-10

11 oz. Beef, Pork, or Soy Chorizo 
1 large yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chiles
1 cup corn
6 yellow corn tortillas, cut into strips
oil for frying tortillas
6 cups corn bread stuffing mix (I used Mrs. Cubbison's®)
1 can chicken broth
1 1/2 cups prepared salsa or tomato sauce
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Top with:
Fried tortilla chips
Cotija cheese, crumbled
cilantro, finely chopped
green onions
Salsa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, add chorizo, onions, carrots, and celery and heat over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add green chiles and corn and mix and set aside while you fry the tortillas.

In a separate frying pan, add enough oil to fry tortilla strips until light brown working in small batches. Remove tortillas from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Add corn bread stuffing mix to a large bowl. Add the meat mixture to the corn bread stuffing mix and stir well to incorporate. Add enough chicken stock to moisten the corn bread meat mixture.

IN a small bowl, add salsa and about half of the fried tortillas and mix to coat the chips in salsa. Make sure to reserve the rest of fried tortillas for garnish. Add the salsa coated chips and cilantro to the corn bread mixture. Pour into a buttered casserole dish, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. 

Top with lots of crunchy fried tortillas, cotija cheese crumbles, cilantro, and green onions. Serve with salsa. Enjoy!

Other recipes to try:

Creamed Corn Casserole

Autumn Slaw with Candied Pumpkin Seeds

Tortilla Dressing