Host an Addams Family Themed Halloween Dinner Party

Hosting a dinner party is a very adult way of celebrating Halloween, and we’re embracing it. But this ain’t just any old dinner party: it’s Addam’s family themed. Yes, that’s right. We’re dressing up as the ladies of your fave goth fam, serving up a menu that’s worthy of their eccentricities. I’m Wednesday, Vanessa is Grandmama and Alyssa is Morticia.

When you’re deciding on a menu for any dinner party, it’s important to select dishes that can be prepped ahead of time but are still worthy of a special occasion. This way, you won’t be stuck in the kitchen the entire time. All of the recipes we’ve included here fit this bill, making your night easy if you’re looking to recreate our party. These are also exactly what we envisioned the Addams family would be eating for dinner. On the menu: purple potato soup; grilled octopus with black lentils and red pepper puree; walnut cake with a whipped goat cheese and honey icing, topped with figs and a dark chocolate drip.

These recipes may look challenging, but let us assure you they are not. We are certainly not chefs, so if we can do it, you can do it. We got all of the ingredients at St. Lawrence Market, which if you live in Toronto, you know about. If you don’t live in Toronto, then come visit and get acquainted with it. Some of the ingredients we’ve used for the menu may be off the beaten path to find: mainly whole octopus, black lentil, purple potatoes and micro greens. A fish monger should be able to hook you up with the octopus and the other ingredients should all be at a Whole Foods. Alternatively, hit up a bulk store for the lentils and a farmers market or produce spot for the potatoes and micro greens.

Let’s talk about the soup first. It turned out the exact right colour we were hoping for. And we can assure you that while the purple is off-putting (which is totally the point), it’s absolutely delicious. For the main, we were intimidated by cooking octopus but it’s surprisingly easy and you don’t need fancy equipment. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s really the only splurge here aside from the figs in the cake. Speaking of which, the cake will require a bit of time and man-power but it’s oh-so-worth-it.

Equally important as the menu is setting the mood for your dinner party soiree. You’ll want a fun, spooky table set-up reminiscent of the movie – so red roses are a must, paired with plating and cutlery using a black, white and grey palette. A creating is also need a table centre piece. We used black velvet; candles; a candelabra; fake skulls and crows; white pumpkins and old books. Lastly,  we’ve to the perfect playlist at the bottom of this post for you.

We’ve broken down the menu below so you can recreate this night yourselves.

Purple Potato Soup

For the Walnut Cake with a Whipped Goat Cheese and Honey Icing, with Figs and a Dark Chocolate Drip

For the cake:

• 1 cup  butter, softened at room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cups of milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Figs, pomegranate and extra walnuts to top the cake

For the icing:

• 4 tbsp of butter, room temperature
• 300g of goat cheese
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1/4 of icing sugar

For the ganache:

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Purple Potato Soup

1. 1. Start by preheating your oven to 400F.
   2. Place the cauliflower florets and purple baby potatoes on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
   3. Place them in the oven for approx. 30 minutes or until tender. You can test the potatoes by piercing them with a fork. If the fork slides through, then they’re done.
   4. While your potatoes and cauliflower are in the oven, make the soup base. Add about 2 tbs of olive oil to a large pot and heat over medium to high heat on the stove. Add the shallots and garlic, sauté for 2 minutes.
   5. Once the cauliflower and purple baby potatoes are roasted, add them to the pot along with the broth, rosemary and thyme. You’ll want to add a generous amount of salt to the pot too – we would suggest 1 tbs. Potatoes don’t have much flavour so the salt will be key. Add some pepper too while you’re at it.
   6. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer for about 5-7 minutes and remove from heat.
   7. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then transfer it to your blender (or use a hand/immersion blender if that’s all you have – you may just need to blend it in a couple of small batches).
   8. Blend the soup until it’s smooth. Give the soup a taste and see if you need to add more salt and/or pepper. Also, if you decide you want your soup to be thinner then add more broth. There’s no right or wrong here.
   9. Use a ladle to serve your soup in bowls.
   10. Fill a squeeze bottle with plain yogurt. We don’t recommend using greek yogurt because it’s so thick, but if that’s all you’ve got, you can add lemon juice to thin it out.
   11. Use the squeeze bottle to design a spider web on top of the soup. Draw lines from the centre of the soup to the edge of the bowl. You’ll want about 8-10 total. Drop a blob of yogurt about 3/4 of the way to the edge of the bowl on every line. Take the toothpick and drag it through the blobs all the way around, so it creates the effect of a spider web. Repeat this step again about 1/2 to the edge of the bowl. If you get lost, use our photo as a guide. It only sounds complicated, we swear.
   12. Top with micro greens.

Grilled Octopus with Black Lentils and Red Pepper Puree 

For the octopus:

1. 1. If your octopus is not pre-cleaned (all frozen octopus is pre-cleaned) then wash and clean your octopus, removing the ink sac and internal organs by making a circular cut around the beak with a paring knife. Pull away the beak (the organs will come with it). If you are buying a fresh octopus from a fish monger then ask them to clean it for you and you can skip this step.
   2. Tenderize the octopus. In a large cooking pot, place the octopus, thyme, garlic, lemon, 1 tbsp salt. Add water to the pot until the octopus is submerged. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, cover, and simmer for 60–90 minutes. Check the octopus often by piercing it with a sharp knife and seeing if it easily slides through the flesh. This is an important step because you want to ensure your octopus isn’t rubbery but you also don’t want to overcook it.
   3. Drain the pot, discarding everything but the octopus itself.
   4. Separate the tentacles from the head of the octopus using a pair of scissors.
   5. Use the edge of a knife or just your hands to remove the purple film off of the octopus everywhere but the side with the suckers. It should peel off easily, and you may notice that the film is quote thick in some spots. This is normal. You should be left with white flesh that’s quite firm.
   6. Place tentacles in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil to coat, then add salt.
   7. Grill the tentacles quickly over high heat on a charcoal or gas grill, or grill pan on a burner over high heat, 3–5 minutes per side.

For the black lentils:

1. Rinse lentils with fresh water before boiling to remove any dust or debris.
2. Add the lentils, along with the stick to medium-sized pot.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover tightly, reduce heat and simmer until they are tender, typically 15-20 minutes.
4. Add the butter and shallots to a saucepan, cooking for approx. 5 minutes over medium heat, or until the shallots become soft.
5. Add the lentils to the saucepan along with salt and pepper to taste, toss to coat and remove from heat.

For the red pepper puree:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice the red peppers into 4-5 pieces, cut the shallot into quarters and peel the cloves of garlic, lay out on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
2. Bake for 12-15 minutes. You want to cook the red pepper at a high temp for so long for a lot of the liquid to be absorbed. This will allow your red pepper puree to be red, not orange (trust us, we did a couple trial runs).
3. Add the red peppers, shallot and garlic cloves to a high-powered blender along with the lemon juice and blend until smooth.
4. Transfer mixture to a squeeze bottle.

Assembly:

1. Add a generous scoop of lentils to the plate.
2. Take the squeeze bottle and drizzle around the plate a couple of times.
3. Place the grilled octopus on top of the lentils.
4. Finish with micro greens.

For the Walnut Cake with a Whipped Goat Cheese and Honey Icing, with Figs and a Dark Chocolate Drip:

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and lightly flour two 8 inch cake tins. Trace, cut out and line the bottom of each tins with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour together salt and baking powder and set aside.
3. Chop walnuts the size of Tics Tacs to prevent heavy nuts from sinking to the bottom of the batter.
4. Whisk together with a fork the eggs and then add vanilla in a bowl.  In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluff until a pale yellow about 5 minutes.
   5. Combine the egg mixture, a little at a time to the butter and sugar duo. Add half the flower mixture, the milk and the rest of the flour mixture. Add in the walnuts and fold in until well combined.
5. Spoon the cake batter mixture in equal parts into the 2 baking tins and bake 30 – 35 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Let the cakes cool for 5 mins and then run a butter knife around the edge of the cake tin and then flip those bad boys upside down onto a cooling rack. Make sure cakes cool completely before icing!

For the icing:

Kick off your dinner party with a sophisticated cocktail the Addams family would have certainly sipped on IRL: Corpse Reviver No. 2. Grab the recipe here.

Looking for other spooky activities, games or cocktails? Check out some of our other ideas and recipes below:

• Hocus Pocus Movie Drinking Game
• How to Throw an Epic Halloween Party
• The Ultimate List of Halloween Cocktails and Shots
• Our 31 Favourite Scary Movies
• How to Host an Addams Family Dinner Party
• Scream Movie Drinking Game
• Zombie Baby Pumpkins
• Host a Halloween Trivia Night (with a free 50-question download!)

 

Halloween Haunt

This playlist is packed with tunes that the right speed for a dinner party, and totally perfect for Halloween.

Click Here to Start Listening!