Dead Man’s Finger

Roasted Cauliflower Brain with Green Slime Hummus and Dead Man’s Finger Sandwiches

by Northern Life

Create a delightfully eerie Halloween feast.

Prep time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 whole cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 150ml white wine
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 tbsp tomato ketchup

For the green slime

  • 50g watercress, roughly chopped
  • 2 tins chickpeas in water
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt

For the dead man’s fingers

  • 1/2 a loaf of thin-sliced white bread, crusts removed
  • Soft butter or margarine
  • 150g cream cheese
  • 50g whole almonds

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 150°C.  Trim the leaves from the cauliflower and cut its base flat so that it sits upright.  Rub all over with olive oil.  Place the cauliflower into an ovenproof casserole dish and pour over the white wine.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1.5 hours.  Check after 1 hour and brush on more oil if cauliflower seems dry.  After the time is up, remove from the oven and insert a long knife into the centre of the cauliflower, ensuring that it is cooked all the way through.  Leave to cool.
  2. While the cauliflower is in the oven, make the hummus.  Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place into a blender with the watercress, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, ground coriander and a pinch of salt.  Blend until smooth, gradually adding olive oil.  Taste and adjust seasoning and lemon juice if necessary.
  3. To make the finger sandwiches, gently flatten the slices of bread with a rolling pin to make them more pliable.  Spread each slice with a little butter or margarine and some cream cheese.  Roll up the sandwiches, then use a blunt knife to make indentations to form the knuckles.  Trim one end of each roll into a V shape and use a little cream cheese to stick on an almond fingernail.
  4. Once the cauliflower has cooled, use a sharp knife to carefully cut a hollow, creating a bowl in the top.  Fill this with the green hummus, then mix the ketchup with a little warm water and drizzles over the sides of the cauliflower to look like blood.
  5. Serve the cauliflower brain with the dead man’s fingers on the side for dipping.

Try Watercress Pesto Mummies for a Halloween feast.

For other equally delicious but definitely less gruesome recipes visit www.watercress.co.uk.