Goblin Spaghetti
Looking at vintage Halloween recipes
Afternoon,
Welcome to another An Omelette letter.
Last week I wrote about overcomplicated cake recipes and I’m happy to say Karen messaged to say her uncle has baked the Wedgwood three-tier cake! Hats off to Karen’s uncle. Lucie commented to say she was disappointed to find I hadn’t baked the Wedgwood cake. Ha! I don’t have enough subscribers to attempt that.
See you next week,
Katie
Perhaps unsurprisingly there aren’t many references to Halloween in old cookbooks — you’re more likely to find a recipe for an Easter log. But as the celebration grew in popularity Halloween-themed recipes started to trickle through, especially in family-oriented cookbooks.
One of my favourites is Look, You Can Cook! by Rosemary Hemphill (pub. 1967).
Look, You Can Cook! includes several Halloween recipes but I have a soft spot for Goblin Spaghetti (what even is it? A weird… spaghetti bake?). Also — I would sub tomato soup for tinned tomatoes, but you do you.
Goblin Spaghetti
2 lb. mince meat (or quorn)
4 tablespoons veg oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 pint tomato soup
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups sweetcorn
1 lb. spaghetti
1 packet grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh or dry parsley
Put oil in saucepan, heat, and brown meat and chopped onions. Add soup and herbs, salt and pepper to taste
Place lid on saucepan and turn the heat very low. Let it simmer gently for 30 minutes, then fold in sweetcorn. Take off stove.
Meanwhile, put a large saucepan of water on to boil with a little salt in it. When boiling, add spaghetti and put lid on. Cook gently for 20 minutes or until soft
Place half the meat mixture in the bottom of casserole dish, then half the spaghetti, followed by rest of meat and the remainder of spaghetti. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top and bake 180c (fan) until the cheese begins to melt
Serve hot, sprinkling parsley over the top
Since having our son Halloween has become a big deal in our house. This year my husband is building an extremely elaborate devil (?) mask, whereas my (4 year old) son is going as a xenomorph alien. Yep.
I’m going as Mimikyu, you know, that Pokémon whose creepy ghost body is hidden under an old rag.
Happy Halloween!
What is Goblin Spaghetti? Please let me know —