October 31, 2020
Halloween is finally here. As a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I always looked forward to the one day during the year where I could dress up as whatever character I wanted and go trick-or-treating once the sun begins to set. Some years, I went with my brothers. Other years, I went with friends. We would come up with a game plan on which houses around our neighborhood to swing by during the days leading up to Halloween. The more festive the décor were, the more eager we were to stop by. Once the sun has set, our adventures began. For the next few hours, we would go house by house to collect our treats. If we were lucky, we would get full-sized treats. The best part about Halloween were the days following Halloween. We had all of these Halloween candy to eat for the next month to come. The trick-or-treating tradition continued for many years until I got to college. Trick-or-treating was replaced with Halloween parties and gatherings. I still continued dressing up for the next four years of college. My costume of choice year after year during my college years was a fairy. I dressed in all white and wore the same fairy wings. I’m pretty sure the wings were made for children, but I still loved those fairy wings. Thinking back to all of the fun I’ve had celebrating the holiday still brings a smile to my face. Halloween as an adult means gathering with friends over good food (usually a good pizza) and handing out candy to children. Halloween this year will be different though. With everything going on around the world, Kevin and I decided not to celebrate with friends. Instead, we stayed home and celebrated Halloween amongst ourselves. In anticipation of Halloween, I’ve been dreaming up new creepy, ghoulish treats to whip up in the kitchen. I’ve been testing out some creepy treats over the last couple of weeks. The two treats I came up with for this year were pesto eyeball pizza and strom-bone-i. I started by preparing a double batch of my pizza dough to use for my latest creepy creations. My Halloween pizza features a fluffy pizza dough topped with pesto, mozzarella cheese cut into the shapes of eyeballs, cherry tomato pupils, and more greenery in the form of fresh arugula right before serving. Half of the pesto was reserved to make sun dried tomato pesto and the other half of the dough was set aside to form the base for my Strom-bone-i. My Strom-bone-i is essentially a Stromboli stuffed with sundried tomato pesto, pepperoni, and the leftover pieces of mozzarella cheese from cutting out circular eyeball shapes. These two carb-y delights became the perfect treats for a small Halloween celebration. The drink of choice to serve alongside the creepy treats was a matcha green tea latte. The latte turns out the perfect shade of green for a festive Halloween drink. To help complete the Halloween meal, I played episodes of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror in the background. My perfect Halloween was finally complete. Kevin and I prepared a large bowl filled with Halloween treats in case trick-or-treaters came knocking on our doors.
For the pesto eyeball pizza:
· my homemade pizza dough recipe or store-bought pizza dough
· 8-10 sprigs fresh basil
· 4 cloves garlic, peeled
· 2 ounces pine nuts
· 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
· 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· 2-3 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into four large round shapes
· 2 cherry tomatoes, halved
· Sriracha, for decorating
· 1 ounce fresh arugula, for serving
Directions:
1) Prepare the pizza dough a few hours before or the evening before following my pizza dough recipe. You can also use store-bought pizza dough for a quicker pizza.
2) When ready to make the pizza, preheat oven to 500°F with a pizza stone placed on the center rack.
3) Make the pesto by pulsing together the fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Drizzle in the olive oil. Sprinkle in the kosher salt to taste. Scoop half of the pesto out to use for the pizza. Reserve the rest to make a sundried tomato pesto for the Strom-bone-i below.
4) Place a sheet of parchment paper over a pizza peel. Place the dough ball onto the parchment lined pizza peel. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough onto the pizza peel. Spread half of the pesto all over the pizza dough. Top with the mozzarella rounds and halved cherry tomatoes to form the eyeballs.
5) Gently glide the pizza and parchment paper onto the pizza stone and let the pizza bake for 10-12 minutes.
6) Remove the pizza from the oven once the crust begins to turn golden brown. Let the pizza rest for a couple minutes before using sriracha to draw veins on the cheese to resemble eyeballs. Top with fresh arugula right before serving.
For the Strom-bone-i:
· my homemade pizza dough recipe or store-bought pizza dough
· half of the pesto from above
· 1 ounce sundried tomatoes
· 1 ounce mozzarella cheese (use any leftover mozzarella pieces from above)
· 3 thin slices of pepperoni
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt for topping Stromboli, if desired
· ¼ teaspoon dried oregano for topping Stromboli, if desired
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper for topping Stromboli, if desired
Directions:
1) Prepare the pizza dough a few hours before or the evening before following my pizza dough recipe. You can also use store-bought pizza dough for a quick Strom-bone-i.
2) When ready to make the Strom-bone-i, preheat oven to 450°F.
3) Make the sundried tomato pesto by pulsing together the pesto from above with the ounce of sundried tomatoes. Scoop out the sundried tomato pesto to use for the Strom-bone-i.
4) Place a sheet of parchment paper over a pizza peel. Place the dough ball onto the parchment lined pizza peel. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangular shape. Transfer the dough to a pizza peel. Spread the sundried tomato pesto all over the pizza dough. Layer a row of pepperoni on top of the pesto. Top with the pieces of mozzarella cheese. Begin rolling the Stromboli on the side with the filling until you form a log. Tuck the two ends of the Stromboli in and shape the ends into the shape of a bone. Place the Strom-bone-i with the seam side down onto the parchment lined pizza peel.
5) Brush the olive oil generously over the Strom-bone-i. If desired, top with kosher salt, dried oregano, and freshly cracked black pepper. Use the pizza peel to transfer the Strom-bone-i and parchment paper directly onto the pizza stone in the oven. Bake the Strom-bone-i for 13-15 minutes, until the exterior develops a golden-brown color. Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Takeaways: I used pesto because I loved the bright green color of the pizza. If you prefer a more traditional pizza, check out my margherita pizza. My meatball pizza also makes for a great alternative. For the strom-bone-i, I rolled the dough on the thicker side. For the next Halloween, when I make this again, I will roll out the centers of the dough much thinner and form thicker ends to resemble more of a bone. Check out my Stromboli with marinara sauce for another spin on the filling. Enjoy!