Double Double Toil and Trouble - A Bewitching Fondue Evening
My love for Halloween and all thing bewitchingly chic runs deep. For as long as I can remember, I have been enamored with the magical notion of spells, enchantments and potions. Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, I Married a Witch… these are just a few of the films that shaped my Halloween obsession and my childhood as a whole. As an adult, a tiny part of me is still waiting for my magical powers to emerge, at which point, obviously, my Hogwarts invitation will arrive by owl and I will be off to join my fellow Slytherins. (I am a nerd through and through, there is no denying it.) But as I have yet to procure any tangible skills in the magical arts, I am left enchanted by the magic of Mother Nature, the magic of movies and the magic of my inner witchy belief. So to celebrate this year’s All Hallows’ Eve, I conjured up a betwching evening inspired by Shakespeare’s Three Witches’ rhyming couplet, ‘Double double toil and trouble’
With this evenings’s imagery taken from the lines of the Three Witches’ song, the fondue feast needed to feel whimsical and collected. I wanted the tablescape to be laden with tapered candles, to be full of earthy, warm tones and to feel as though items had been gathered from a witch’s garden and cabinet of curiosities. A fall harvest of pumpkins, squash, herbs, pears, pomegranates, onions, garlic, and even a tiny watermelon. And of course, a candle crowned skull.
The fondue, served in a vintage copper vessels (including a 1800’s ‘cauldron’*swoon*), needed to mimic a potion brewing scene. A concoction of melty cheese awaiting the addition of roasted vegetables, homemade gluten free French baguette and boiled potatoes. And naturally, to accompany the fondue feast, one must offer savory Jack-O-Lantern hand pies and red velvet skull cakes served with a drizzle of blood red raspberry coulis.
The soirée was everything I imagined it to be, and worth every ounce of time and effort I put into it. The company of my beautiful guests, the moments forever captured in polaroids and on frames of film, the laughter, the conversation and the spread… I will never forget it! Happy Halloween to all who celebrate, may your evening be bewitching and full of wonder and magic. I hope this Three Witches themed evening leaves you endlessly inspired and delighted! Xx
Classic fondue
Roasted farmers market vegetables, boiled potatoes, pears, homemade gluten free French baguette (made with Odella Bakes all purpose gf flour), cornichons, et cetera…
Savory pumkin jack-o-lantern handpies
Beverages: ‘Blind Worm Sting’ cocktail to start the evening (recipe in l’edition - October 2023), followed by crisp champagne and an assortment of wines
Red velvet skull cakes by Odella Bakes with raspberry coulis
Gluten Free Savory Jack-O-Lantern Handpies
Makes about 8 jack-o-lantern handpies.
Gluten Free Pie Dough (savory)
400g Odella Bakes gluten free all purpose flour
16 tablespoons cold butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon
In a medium large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add cold butter in 1/2 inch cubes and toss in flour to coat. Using a party cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture until butter is cut down to pea sized portions and flour is course with buttery fragments. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, vinegar and dijon until frothy. Pour into flour/butter mixture and work together with the pastry cutter until nearly combined. Using your hands, quickly work in any remaining dry crumbly bits and form into a rough disk. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. *Very important to keep ingredients and dough as cold as possible throughout this process, so working quickly is key. **Can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a couple of days. Make sure to wrap tightly.
Before rolling out, lightly flour surface and let rest at room temp for about 10 minutes. The dough you’re not working with should be kept cold.
Savory Pumpkin Filling
2 tablespoons butter
12 crispy sage leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 15 oz can of pumpkin purée
1 large onion chopped and caramelized
1 pinch ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp white pepper
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 oz soft goat cheese
Dice your onion and set aside. In a pan, melt butter until it begins to brown. Add in sage leaves and allow to crisp up nicely. Remove from butter and let drain on a paper towel covered plate. Add olive oil to the pan with the brown butter and add diced onions. Allow to caramelize slowly, staring every few minutes, this should take about 30-45 minutes.
In a medium bowl, add puree, crispy sage, spices and cheese. Mix well. Once onions are caramelized, add them to the purée mixture (the heat from the onions will help to melt in the cheeses). Using a food processor or hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth. *Can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a few days
Assembly
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
Parmesan cheese for grating
In a small bowl, whisk egg and turmeric. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Roll out 1/4 of your pie dough to about 1/6 inch thick. Cut out your pumpkin shape, or any shape you desire. *I made my own pumpkin stencil out of parchment paper…you can use a cookie cutter as well. Cut out faces into half of the pie dough cutouts, leaving the other half solid. On the solid half, spoon a couple of tablespoons worth of filling onto the center of your dough shapes. Take care to leave about 1 cm of the edges filling free. Using a spray bottle, sprtiz the filling side with some water (just a tiny spritz to dampen the dough so the top fuses with with the bottom. This is optional, but makes a huge difference). Carefully lay your Jack-O-Lanter face on top of the filling side and gently seal the edges by first lightly pressing and then scoring the perimeter with the flat bottom of the tongs of a small fork. Gently brush tops with the egg and turmeric, be sure to cover surface well as the color from the turmeric really pops during baking. Grate a dusting of fresh parmesan over the tops and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Until edges are a nice golden brown and your kitchen smells heavenly. Continue this process until dough and filling are used up.
‘Double Double Toil and Trouble’
Shakespeare’s/Macbeth’s Three Witches
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver’d in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.