Witchy Kitchen

Tag: horror movies

  • Jackfruit Green Tinga Tacos, a Plant-Based Recipe

    Jackfruit Green Tinga Tacos, a Plant-Based Recipe

    “As long as I’m back for make-your-own-taco night, I’m in.” Spoiler: they are not back for make-your-own-taco night.

    The Ruins (2008), directed by Carter Smith and written by Scott Smith (writer of the novel of the same name) is bleak. Really bleak. There is no point that we believe the Greeks or a “world phone” will come through. It’s a long, slow demise into the killer plants.

    As unlikely as the premise sounds, The Ruins is legitimately terrifying. It’s frightening how quickly the characters slip from the safety of their mundane vacation and into the wild unknown. The film does some excellent work playing with body horror, a creeping, vining sense of dread, and the psychology of imminent doom.

    It’s not the way you want your Mexican vacation to end. Mexican vacation is for pools, beaches, and tacos.

    So of course we are making tacos inspired by The Ruins. These are spicy, green, and entirely plant based. Traditionally, tinga is made with shredded chicken, beef or pork. Jackfruit is an excellent stand in for any type of shredded meat, and as it doesn’t have a strong flavor, it can absorb the flavor of whatever sauce you simmer it in. We often have it BBQ style in sandwiches or tacos.

    For The Ruins however, I made a smokey green sauce. It’s very simple and made from few ingredients, but they balance each other out well. It’s tangy from tomatillos, spicy from jalapeños, herby from oregano. Garnish with anything lucious and green – avocado, green cabbage, lime. Cherry tomato flowers, optional.

    Jackfruit Green Tinga Tacos

    • 1 pound tomatillos, quartered
    • 1 onion, sliced into 1 inch chunks
    • 2 jalapeños, halved long ways
    • 6 cloves garlic, peeled
    • olive oil
    • 2 20 ounce cans jackfruit, drained and trimmed
    • 2 tablespoons sugar
    • 1 teaspoon oregano
    • salt to taste
    • 2 cups vegetable broth
    • Corn tortillas for serving. Avocado, shredded cabbage, lime to garnish. Quartered and seeded cherry tomatoes if you dare!

    Toss the tomatillos, onion, jalapeños, and garlic with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, and and roast at 400 for 40-45 minutes, stirring and scraping every 10 minutes or so, until mushy and charred. Transfer to a food processor and grind until smooth. The tomatillos are quite tangy, so add enough sugar to mellow and balance, about 2 tablespoons. Salt to taste.

    Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan or wok, and sauté jackfruit until it is starting to brown. Add tomatillo mixture, oregano, and 2 cups vegetable broth. Mix well. Cook until stewy, stirring often, and gently mashing the jackfruit until stringy.

    Serve with warm tortillas, lovely garnishes, Mexican-style red rice, and refried beans!

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.


  • Winchester Fish and Fried Pickles

    Winchester Fish and Fried Pickles

    All Shaun’s girlfriend Liz wants is dinner at a nice restaurant, the place that does all the fish. The Winchester doesn’t even have proper food. It has plenty of nibbles though: Mini Cheddars. Twigglets. And my personal favorite, Hog Lumps. It’s the perfect place for a nice cold pint whilst waiting for the zombie apocalypse to blow over.

    Shaun of the Dead (2004) is a delightful horror comedy directed by Edgar Wright and cowritten by Wright and Simon Pegg who also stars as Shaun. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s directionless and ambitionless, more or less content to work his middling job by day and spend every evening in the same pub. The film is a hilarious if depressing commentary about how we drone through our daily lives, so much so that when the zombie apocalypse begins it’s almost indiscernible. Once they start attacking though, Shaun takes charge. Along with his best friend Ed, he manages to scoop up his very sweet mother who calls him “Pickle,” Liz, who has freshly broken up with him, and her flatmates, and lead them to the Winchester to hunker down.

    By the end, Shaun has grown as a person and manages to make enough changes to win Liz back. And while he may never be the type to take her to a fancy restaurant that does fish, he can at least take her to a pub that does fish and chips…maybe even the Winchester! It did get completely trashed by zombies so maybe when they renovate they’ll put in a kitchen.

    I thought it would be fun to, instead of chips, make fried pickles to incorporate Shaun’s mother’s nickname for him. While fried pickles originated in the American south, they have been popping up on pub menus (or so says Google) and are the perfect accompaniment to a nice cold pint.

    Originally I was thinking to incorporate Hog Lumps somehow. I mean, with a name like that how could I not at least consider it? Turns out there are a lot of recipes online that use pork rinds as breading for low carb versions of fried fish and fried pickles…but after thinking about it for a minute, anything called “Keto” or “Whole 30” just didn’t feel very English pub-like. So I went with classic beer batter for both the fish and the pickles. For a dipping sauce, malt vinegar mayonnaise.

    Winchester Fish and Fried Pickles with Malt Vinegar Mayo

    For the malt vinegar mayo

    • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
    • 1 tablespoon malt vinegar
    • salt & pepper

    Whisk together mayonnaise and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

    For the fish and fried pickles

    • 16 ounce jar dill pickle chips
    • 1 pound firm white fish fillets such as cod
    • 18 ounces beer (one and a half bottles – drink the rest!), I used Guiness
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 1/4 cups flour
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
    • salt & pepper
    • vegetable oil for frying

    Heat a half inch oil in a frying pan on medium high (you may need to lower heat).

    Drain and dry the pickles and dry with a paper towel. Dry fish fillets thoroughly with paper towels and salt and pepper liberally on both sides.

    Whisk together beer and eggs. Separately, whisk together flour and baking soda and stir into the beer mixture. Season with a pinch of salt and some fresh cracked pepper, but not too much, being mindful that the pickles are already salty and the fish is also seasoned separately.

    Test a little of the batter in the oil to see if it is ready. Dip the pickles in the batter, letting excess drip off, and fry in small batches until golden, about 3-4 minutes, flipping half way. Remove to a paper towel.

    Dip fish in remaining batter and fry in batches until golden, 3/4 minutes each side.

    Serve hot with dipping sauce, extra malt vinegar, and lemon.

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.

  • Ginger Steak Wraps with Ginger Tomato Chutney

    Ginger Steak Wraps with Ginger Tomato Chutney

    Ginger Snaps, the 2000 Canadian horror movie written and directed by John Fawcett, is all about transformation. It stars Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins as sisters Ginger and Brigitte, who are delightfully morbid (the opening sequence of their death-inspired school project photoshoot is fantastic), and grow up with only each other for friends and a death pact to seal their friendship and sisterhood.

    However, when Ginger is attacked by a mysterious creature, everything begins to change. There are so many themes that are well served by this werewolf narrative; adolescence and budding sexuality, sisterhood, loneliness, mortality, and how people change and relationships rarely stay the same.

    Steak is probably pretty obvious for a werewolf inspired recipe (I also cooked up Universal Classic Monster-inspired Wolf Man Steaks with Silver Bullet Lemon Butter). Well, to be fair, gingersnap cookies are probably the most obvious, but steaks are a close second. However, these were an excellent excuse to use lots and lots of ginger, which I love, for a nice spin on a classic.

    Ginger Steaks

    • 2 fillets (or cut of your choice – I did filet mignon which was appropriately popular in the 90s/early 2000s just like this film)
    • coarse salt
    • fresh ground pepper
    • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • 2 inches ginger, peeled and finely chopped (reserve some matchsticks for garnish)
    • spritz of lime juice

    For a detailed steak-cooking technique, I recommend this method from The Kitchn, but I’ll give you a quick run down. Pat steaks dry, and salt and pepper well on all sides. Allow to sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

    Heat oven to 425°. Heat coconut oil in a cast iron skillet until screaming hot, don’t be afraid. I opened the windows and warned the kids that I’d probably set the smoke alarm off, which I did. Sear steaks for 5 minutes on each side then move to the oven for 5 minutes for medium well. Remove to a plate and allow to rest.

    Return the skillet to the stove and on medium heat, add butter, ginger, and lime juice. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened and pour over steaks. Garnish with ginger matchsticks. Serve as is, or, once rested, slice steaks in strips against the grain.

    But we’re not done yet! I transformed this (eh? Ok I’m sorry that was really cheesy) into wraps with baby spinach and a ginger tomato chutney for even more gingery flavor. This also helps stretch an expensive cut of meat; two steaks fed 5 of us with leftovers (with soy and ginger marinated tempeh strips for a vegetarian version).

    Ginger Tomato Chutney

    • 2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil
    • 2 shallots, finely diced
    • 2 inches ginger, peeled and grated
    • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
    • pinch cayenne (or more to your taste!)
    • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
    • 1 can diced tomatoes
    • 3/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
    • spritz lime juice

    In a saucepan, heat oil until shimmering. Saute shallots until they begin to turn golden, then stir in ginger, garam masala, cayenne and turmeric and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes, and cook, stirring often, until thick and jammy. Stir in brown sugar and lime juice and cook for just another minute and remove from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, may need a pinch more salt.

    To make wraps, arrange a layer of baby spinach on flatbreads, then strips of gingery steak, top with a dollop of ginger tomato chutney, wrap, slice and serve.

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.