Witchy Kitchen

Tag: vampires

  • Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    You are part of me now, and I cannot let you go. After awhile you will forget what you were, and you will begin to love me as I love you.

    The 1983 film The Hunger is a spooky chic take of a vampire story. The cast is amazing: French goddess Catherine Deneuve, the weird and wonderful David Bowie, and smart, sexy Susan Sarandon.

    hunger-poster

    I watched it after I became aware of the myriad references in American Horror Story. In Hotel, Lady Gaga and the other vampires are heavily influenced by The Hunger, from the ankhs to the slicing vs. biting kill technique to the use of Bahaus’s Bela Legosi’s Dead (which you can find on my ever-growing Spooky Shit Spotify Playlist). There’s a reference in Coven too, with Jessica Lang seeking youth from the scientist who does tests on monkeys, and probably even more that I’m not aware of because apparently Ryan Murphy is a huge fan and goes back to this well.

    I loved the movie for its stylishness, twist on the classic vampire lore, and of course the charismatic actors. The sexy AF aspect of vampires is not new but it’s well used here. It’s also quite enjoyable that in a movie about obsession with youth, the hottest scene is between two women who were in their late 30’s/early 40’s at the time (not old by any means, but ancient by Hollywood standards).

    Deneuve’s Miriam begins her seduction of Sarandan’s Sarah with a glass of sherry (another move echoed by Gaga in AHS), which makes an appearance in this sleek and velvety soup. Garlicky too, not a problem as these aren’t your average vampires. It’s an elegant starter for a dinner that ends in blood.

    Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    • 1 pound roma tomatoes
    • 1 head garlic
    • olive oil
    • salt & pepper
    • 1/4 cup sherry
    • 4 cup chicken broth
    • 1/2 cup heavy cream
    • basil chiffonade for garnish

    Heat oven to 300° and line two baking sheets with parchment. Slice tomatoes to medium thickness, toss with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and lay on baking sheets in a single layer. Meanwhile, slice top off the head of garlic, wrap in foil, and drizzle with olive oil.

    Bake tomatoes and garlic, flipping tomatoes after 30 minutes, then again after another 30 minutes. Bake a final 30 minutes (1 1/2 hours total) until nice and roasty, checking that they don’t burn. Allow the roasted garlic to cool enough to handle, and squeeze out the cloves.

    Put tomatoes and garlic in a soup pot with the sherry, and cook until sherry is reduced. Add half the chicken broth, mix well, and cook for 20 minutes. Cool slightly and puree in a blender. Return to the soup pot (optional, for vampire-worthy soup do it through a mesh strainer), add the rest of the chicken broth and heat through. Check seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Add heavy cream and just heat through, serve hot garnished with basil.

  • Vampire Slayer Pizza

    Vampire Slayer Pizza

    Everyone knows vampires hate garlic, but there’s also this other little piece of mythology that I feel like I’ve heard a couple of times and keep forgetting, which is that if you scatter seeds in front of a vampire’s grave he will be compelled to count them before returning. The Sesame Street Count is based on this myth – ah, ah, ah!

    vampire-slayer-pizza

    For this reason, I made a super garlicky white pizza, but I also threw nigella seeds in the dough (if the garlic doesn’t keep vampires away from my pizza, they’ll at least have to count for awhile before they get a slice).

    Great for date night (um, if your typical date night is making food and watching movies on the couch after the kids go to bed – woo!), just make sure you both eat some!!

    Vampire Slayer Pizza

    For the dough
    Slightly adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

    • 1 cup warm water
    • 1 packet (.32 oz) rapid rise yeast
    • 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
    • 3 cups flour
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 tbsp garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
    • 1 tbsp nigella seeds (optional)
    • 2 tbsp olive oil

    In a small bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Wait for ten minutes until is foamy (if it’s not foamy, yeast dead, use new yeast).

    Meanwhile, combine 2 cups of the flour, salt, garlic powder, nigella seeds and olive oil. Add the water and mix until it forms a very sticky dough – dump out onto a well-floured board (or well-floured counter in my case) and knead, adding flour little by little until it comes together, and afterwards a sprinkle here and there if it gets too sticky to handle. Add just enough to keep from going crazy, otherwise the dough will be heavy and dense. Knead for 10 minutes, then roll into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave it somewhere like the microwave for an hour.

    For the pizza

    • 2 heads garlic, outer paper removed and the top 1/4 inch cut off
    • olive oil
    • salt & pepper
    • 8 oz burrata (2 4 oz balls) or 4 oz each mozzarella and ricotta
    • parsley and red pepper flakes for garnish

    While dough is rising, heat oven to 375° Drizzle each head of garlic with about a teaspoon of olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until very soft and golden.

    At this point, retrieve the dough and knead again for a couple minutes and spread onto prepared baking sheet(s) or stone(s) – you can use one large square baking sheet or two smaller circle ones. Let sit 10 minutes or so while you prepare the rest.

    Heat oven to 500°

    Squeeze garlic cloves from their paper, leaving some mashed and some still with some shape. Strew around the dough. Tear burrata into small pieces (or tear mozzarella and use spoonfuls of ricotta) and strew evenly around dough.

    Bake for 12-15 minutes (mine usually takes around 13) until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Let cool and serve, sprinkled with parsley and red pepper flakes.