[1] Make a Halloween cheese ball with the jack o’lantern’s face in red tortilla chips… (photo © Snackworks.

[2] …or blue tortilla chips(photo © The Cooking Channel).

[3] When it isn’t Halloween, cover the cheese ball with chopped scallions (photo © Beekman 1802).

[4] The inspiration: a jack o’ lantern (photo © PlayBuzz).

It’s easy to make a cheese ball: combine room temperature cream cheese with other ingredients in a bowl or mixer and blend; then form into a ball and coat with shredded cheese or seasonings.

This recipe has nacho seasonings, but you can make any cheese ball recipe you like.

The history of the Jack O’Lantern is below. But this recipe isn’t limited to Halloween. Just omit Jack’s face decorations and you have a cheese ball for any day of the year.

TIP: It is better to shred your own Cheddar, as tempting as it might be to buy pre-shredded cheese. The pre-shredded has a different texture, from the additives used to keep the shreds from sticking together in the bag.

Prep time is 15 minutes, chilling time is 2 hours.
 
 
RECIPE: JACK O’ LANTERN CHEESE BALL

Ingredients

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*If you want a really orange cheese ball, use Ritz crackers. You still have tortilla chips for serving.
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Preparation

1. CRUSH the corn chips in a plastic bag, using a rolling pin. Set aside.

2. PLACE the cream cheese, Cheddar, onions, salsa, cumin, and jalapeño into the bowl of a mixer and blend thoroughly. Form into a pumpkin-like shape and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. You may find it neater to put the mixture on a piece of plastic wrap, and form the ball from the outside of the plastic.

3. BEFORE serving, roll the cheese ball in the crushed corn chips. Arrange the cheese ball on a plate, and press the bell pepper stem or celery stalk into the top.

4. MAKE a jack o’ lantern face, if desired, with break-off pieces of blue corn chips/black bean chips to form a jack o’ lantern face. The chip pieces should adhere to the pumpkin cheese ball if you gently press them onto it, but you can also glue them on using a small dab of plain yogurt or sour cream.

5. SERVE the cheese ball with black bean chips, crackers and spreading knives.
 
 
WHERE DID THE JACK O’ LANTERN ORIGINATE?

Jack o’ lanterns carved from pumpkins are an Irish-American tradition. But for centuries before any Irish immigration to the U.S., jack o’ lanterns were carved from beets, potatoes, and turnips and placed in windows of homes in what is now Great Britain, to ward off evil spirits on Halloween.

The jack o’ lantern is named after Stingy Jack, a fellow of Irish myth. He invited the Devil to have a drink with him, but was too cheap to pay even for his own drink.

Jack was not only stingy; he was a cheat. Once the Devil had turned himself into a coin, Jack simply pocketed it. No drinks were had that evening, but Jack was one coin richer. Clever Jack had placed the coin next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form.

Jack eventually freed the Devil, under conditions including that, after Jack died, the Devil would not claim his soul.

When Jack died, however, God would not allow his disreputable soul into heaven. Jack then tried to get into hell. The Devil, who had previously committed not to claim Jack’s soul, would not let him in.

But the Devil was kind enough to send Jack off into the dark with a lump of burning coal to light his way. To carry it, Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip. The spirit of “Jack of the Lantern,” subsequently shortened to “Jack O’ Lantern” (and evolving to the lower case jack o’lantern) has been roaming the Earth ever since.

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lantern by carving scary faces into potatoes and turnips, and placing them in windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets were used.

Immigrants brought the jack o’ lantern tradition to the U.S., where they discovered that the native pumpkin made the biggest, scariest and best jack-o’-lanterns.

[2] Use the tops as garnish and in salads, soup stocks and stir frys (photo © Good Eggs).

Celery root is a large, gnarled globe—perhaps the least attractive item in the produce section.

But peel away the skin and you’ll discover creamy flesh like a parsnip’s, to which it is related. Its botanical family, Apiaceae—commonly known as the carrot or parsley family—includes numerous* well-known vegetables. While not a relative, it can be cooked in the same way as potatoes.

We grew up in an era and in a town with a wealth of old-school French restaurants, presenting the cuisine of Escoffier and other seminal French chefs. Our favorite appetizer was céleri remoulade, a classic French first course.

To make it, the raw celery root knob is peeled and julienned (cut into matchsticks). It is then dressed with rémoulade sauce, a homemade mayonnaise flavored with Dijon mustard. It was served to us in a lettuce cup, sometimes atop greens. Think of a gourmet cousin of coleslaw. We couldn’t get enough of it.

There’s a recipe for Chicken Thighs With Mashed Celery Root below.
 
 
A ROOT BY ANY OTHER NAME

Called céleri in French and celeriac in English, the vegetable is also called celery root, knob celery, and turnip-rooted celery. It can be eaten raw or cooked.

Apium graveolens var. Rapaceum has a crisp, apple-like texture with bright white flesh. The firm, juicy flesh has a mild herbaceous quality with celery-like undertones. Celery root can be a non-starch substitute for potatoes: mashed, French-fried, and almost any other way.

Celery root is available year-round, with a peak season in late fall and winter. Nutritionally, it is an excellent source of dietary fiber and potassium, with significant amounts of vitamins B6 and C. It has just 66 calories per cup.

One of the oldest root vegetables in recorded history, it grew wild in the Mediterranean Basin and in Northern Europe, but was considered difficult to grow. Farmers worked to master it, and it became culinarily important during the Middle Ages.

Celeriac developed from the same wild plant as the familiar long-stalk green celery, but you’d never know from looking at them that they are kin. Over the millennia, different strains of the plants were developed for different reasons, some focusing on the root, others on the stems or leaves.
 
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*Some other cousins include angelica, anise, caraway, celery, chervil, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill, fennel, lovage and sea holly.
 
 
RECIPE: CRISPY CHICKEN THIGHS WITH MASHED CELERY ROOT

Thanks to Good Eggs, the finest grocery purveyor in San Francisco, for this recipe.

 
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†Tired of kale? Substitute broccoli rabe (rapini), collard greens, kohlrabi leaves, mustard greens, red cabbage or Swiss chard.

‡There are more than 50 varieties of kale, of which four are most often found in the U.S. Curly kale is the variety typically found in grocery stores. You may have to hit farmers markets or specialty produce stores for the others: lacinato kale (also called black kale, dinosaur kale, and Tuscan kale, among other names), redbor kale (ornamental kale, which is equally edible), and red Russian kale.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F with an oven-safe pan inside (cast iron, french oven, or deep fry pan). Fill a large pot about halfway full with water for the stovetop, add a handful of salt and turn the heat to high. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs liberally.

2. PREP the celery root by slicing off the top and bottom and peeling off the fibrous outer skin. Cut into 1-inch chunks and add to the pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. When the oven is hot…

3. REMOVE the pan and add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Place the pan back in the oven for 25-30 minutes, then gently test for doneness by pricking with a small, sharp knife. They’re done when the chicken juices run clear. TIP: For extra crispy skin, preheat a cast-iron skillet in the oven instead of a baking pan—and be prepared to remove it with silicone oven mitts or potholders.

4. CHECK the celery root for doneness; it’s finished when the cubes are tender. Drain and place the cubes in a mixing bowl along with the butter, herbs, salt and pepper. Using a fork or the back of a spoon, mash all of the ingredients together until you have your preferred consistency of mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. REMOVE the finished chicken from the pan. Pour off about half the pan drippings, add the kale and toss with tongs, making sure the greens are coated in the drippings. Return the pan with the kale to the oven for about 5-7 minutes to cook the kale quickly. Once the kale is done, dress it with a squeeze of lemon and serve alongside the chicken and celery root.

NOTE: Like an apple, celery root will discover with prolonged exposure to air. To serve it raw, blanched briefly in acidic water (with lemon juice).
 
 

We really enjoyed this dish last night, served with beer and hard cider. Four of us polished off the 18 pieces of cheese and the spicy olives in 10 minutes, and we look forward to making it again.

The recipe was sent to us by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Find many great cheese recipes at EatWisconsinCheese.com.

FRIED FETA CHEESE WITH SPICY MARINATED OLIVES

Ingredients For 18 Pieces
 
For The Fried Feta

 
Preparation

1. HALVE the feta horizontally to create two 1/2-inch-thick blocks (or as many as can be cut from your piece). Cut each block roughly into 1-inch cubes to yield about 18 pieces total.

2. WHISK the egg with the flour and water in shallow bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow, rimmed dish. Working with a few pieces at a time, dip the feta cubes in the egg mixture, coat with the breadcrumbs and place on a plate. Refrigerate while preparing the olives.

3. HEAT the olive oil on low in a medium sauté pan. Add the garlic, orange zest and fennel. Sauté for 2 minutes, taking care not to the brown garlic. Add the olives and pepper flakes; toss to coat. Sauté for 1 minute. Transfer the olives to a serving bowl. Wipe the pan with a paper towel.

4. REMOVE the feta from the refrigerator. Pour a thin layer of oil in the bottom of the same sauté pan and heat over medium until hot. Test by adding a few breadcrumbs to pan; they should sizzle. Gently place 8 to 10 feta cubes in the pan. When the cubes begin to brown, about 1 to 2 minutes, use a fork to turn each cube to brown the other side. Continue to cook 1 to 2 minutes.

5. REMOVE the cubes with a spatula; place on a seving plate. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining feta cubes, adding additional oil if necessary. Serve immediately with the olives.

Feta is Greece’s most famous cheese*, a pure white, aged curd cheese that crumbles easily. While the cheese has been made since antiquity, the modern name came into the Greek language in the 17th century, from the Italian word fetta, slice, referring to slicing the cheese from the brick.

Authentic feta is a sheep’s milk cheese, or a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milks. Outside of the European Union, where it is protected designation of origin (PDO) product, it can also be made of cow’s milk. The cheese is semi-hard, with a flavor that can range from mild and milky to salty with a very tangy acidity.
 
*Here are other Greek cheeses.

Authentic feta is formed into bricks and salted and cured in a brine solution. It is aged in wood barrels for 60 days, creating a creamy, tangy cheese with citric notes.

Only 2% of the feta consumed in the U.S. actually comes from Greece. Much of it is saltier feta from Bulgaria and other countries. Some feta is simply too salty. You can soak oversalted pieces it in water or milk to remove some of the saltiness.

Find more favorite types of cheese in our Cheese Glossary.
 
WHAT TO DO WITH THE OLIVE PITS

We don’t know what we’d do without our olive pit “ashtray.” It makes the ugly olive pits disappear. We got it at the Museum of Modern Art decades ago, and can’t find anything like it online.

But we did find this one and this one, made from ceramic. It’s great gift for the olive lover who entertains.