By Alma Wendy Yu

Halloween is one of my favorite time of the year. There are costume parties, trick-or-treat events, horror movie marathons, and a lot of Halloween themed food! It gives us another reason to be creative in the kitchen and to “play with our food.”

Pumpkin is a common during Halloween. Although getting our hands on a big pumpkin for Jack-o’-Lantern carving can be tricky in the country, we can still use the humble kalabasa to keep up with the theme by turning it into soup. As cliche as it is, it just doesn’t feel like Halloween without anything pumpkin-themed.

This recipe I am sharing with you is a family favorite, and a common soup item found in most restaurants: Cream of Pumpkin Soup. The bright yellow-orange of the soup is a great canvas to make some spooky designs using cream as your pen. I am going to show you how to make a spiderweb pattern. By all means, you can do whatever pattern you like. You can find many tutorials online.

Cream soups are traditionally garnished with croutons, which are crunchy bits of cubed bread. Jazz them up by switching croutons with breadstick. To keep up with the spooky theme and for added aesthetics, form it into “bones” instead.

Spiderweb Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

• 500g pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, chopped into chunks
• 50g oil
• 50g white onion, diced
• 5g garlic, chopped
• 50g all purpose flour
• 1.5 liter vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 125ml all purpose cream, divided
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. In a pot, heat oil and add in white onion and garlic. Saute until translucent.
2. Add chopped pumpkin. Toss well until pumpkin is coated in oil.
3. Sprinkle in all-purpose flour and stir until you can no longer see white bits.
4. Add in stock, and bring to a boil.
5. Lower down the flame and simmer until pumpkin is cooked and soft.
6. Blend soup in batches and pour back into a clean pot.
7. Put about 30 percent of the cream into a squeeze bottle.
8. Heat up soup until boiling. Turn off flame and stir in all-purpose cream.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Serve soup in bowls.
11. To make a spiderweb pattern: With the cream from the squeeze bottle, make a swirl pattern. Imagine a clock pattern on the swirl. With a toothpick, make lines starting from the center of the swirl to the edge. Make eight lines in total to make a spiderweb pattern, always starting each line from the center.

Pepper Skeleton Breadstick

Note: the black pepper doesn’t only add kick and flavor, it gives your breadsticks a bit of a darker hue for a spookier feel. You may add herbs if you want to. You can also knead the dough by hand if you do not have a mixer. Kneading by hand, however, will take longer. This makes about 15 to 18 sticks, depending on the size.

Ingredients:

• 100g all-purpose flour
• 50g water
• 3g instant yeast
• 6g vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp. fine salt
• 1/2 tsp. Ground black pepper

Method:

1. Place flour, salt, and black pepper into a mixing bowl attached to a dough-hook.
2. In a bowl, dissolve yeast, and water. Combine with dry ingredients.
3. Mix on medium speed until you form a dough for about 10 minutes.
4. Add in oil and continue mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Place dough in a lightly-oiled bowl, cover, and place in a warm area for 45 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 200C.
7. Press down the dough to remove air and place on a clean work surface.
8. Pinch into small pieces. It doesn’t have to be the same size.
9. Form into a log, a tie two knots on both ends to form a bone. Place on a tray lined with baking paper.
10. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
11. Bake until slightly puffed, browned, and crunchy.
12. Cool down on a cooling rack.
13. Serve with soup.

You may use different vegetables if you do not want to use pumpkin. Tomatoes can give you a “bloody” cream soup. Broccoli cream soup can resemble a pot of “witch’s brew.” Just replace the amount of pumpkin in the recipe with your vegetable choice.