Whether you are looking for some creative dishes for an intimate Halloween dinner with family and friends or simply thinking of whipping up some toothsome bites for your horror movie marathon, here are some spooky recipes especially prepared by Chef-educator Margarita Marty.

Reminiscent of the iconic pumpkin garden, the expert culinarian’s Kwek-Kwek Patch features an irresistible serving of the all-time favorite Filipino street food.

Marty, the chairperson of the Culinary Arts of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (SHRIM), likewise innovated the traditional spaghetti into a scene-stealing dish dubbed as Eyeballs Meatballs with Tomato-Pimento Angel Hair Pasta.

Here are the two recipes:

Kwek-Kwek Patch

Ingredients

Kwek-kwek:

24 pcs quail eggs, hard boiled
3 to 4 cups cooking oil
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup flour
1 cup water
2 tsp annatto powder
1 tsp chicken powder
½ tsp salt
Celery stalks

Procedure

1. Boil quail eggs until hard boiled.
2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan.
3. In one bowl, mix flour, water, annatto powder, chicken powder, and salt to make a batter.
4. Toss eggs in cornstarch.
5. Coat eggs generously with the batter.
6. Deep fry coated eggs.
7. Cut celery to make small stalks.
8. Insert the celery stalk in the kwek-kwek.

Sauce:

¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup tomato catsup
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
5 g chopped garlic
25 g chopped red onion
1 to 2 pcs Bird’s eye chili
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. In one bowl mix all the ingredients.
2. Season with salt and pepper.

Eyeballs Meatballs with Tomato-Pimento Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients

Meatballs:

250 g ground beef
250 g ground pork
50 g chopped onion
10 g minced garlic
100 g mozzarella cheese cut into 12 cubes
½ cup bread crumbs
½ tsp McCormick dried oregano
½ tsp McCormick Italian seasoning
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Eyeballs:

100 g mozzarella cheese, cut into 12 rounds about ¼ inch thick
6 pcs black olives, cut into rings
20 g canned pimento, small dice

Procedure

1. Combine ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs, minced garlic, chopped onion, dried oregano, and Italian seasoning in a bowl and mix together.
2. Divide into 12 equal portions.
3. Form the meatballs with the mozzarella cubes in the center.
4. Bake meatballs in an oven at 350°C for 20 minutes.
5. Remove meatballs from oven, remove the liquid and oil.
6. Top the meatballs with mozzarella cheese rounds.
7. Bake in the oven for five minutes or until cheese has melted.
8. Top with olive rings and diced pimento.

Tomato-Pimento Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients

10 g minced garlic
50 g chopped onions
160 g canned chopped red pimento
400 g canned crushed tomatoes
250 to 300 g uncooked Angel Hair pasta
½ tsp McCormick dried oregano
½ tsp McCormick Italian seasoning
½ tsp McCormick Spanish pimento
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Pasta:

1. Boil water for Angel Hair pasta and season with salt.
2. Drop pasta in water and cook for about one to three minutes until al dente.

Sauce:

1. In a saucepan, sauté minced garlic and chopped onions over medium heat.
2. Add the dried oregano, Italian seasoning, and Spanish pimento and cook for one to two minutes.
3. Add red pimento and crushed tomatoes.
4. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes over medium to low heat.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Toss pasta in the sauce with a little pasta water. Allow the sauce to coat the noodles.
7. Transfer the pasta in a serving bowl or dish and top with meatballs.