Staying in for Halloween? Want a quick and easy Halloween dinner? Here’s an idea from our colleague Hannah Kaminsky of Bittersweet Blog. She made her own black pasta, and used canned pumpkin as the base for the sauce underneath. Her recipe is vegan, but we took an easier approach:

We purchased the squid-ink pasta.

Then, we created a sauce from canned pumpkin purée. The sauce can be used on pasta as well as with chicken, eggs, and grains, vegetables…even in a baked potato!
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN SAUCE
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COOK the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 2 cups of the pasta water; then drain the pasta and set aside.

2. HEAT the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the rosemary and fry, stirring, until the rosemary starts to brown (1 to 2 minutes). With a slotted spoon, drain the rosemary, leaving the oil in the pot; and drain the rosemary on paper towels. It will be used as a garnish, and it also imparts rosemary flavor to the oil. You can use this technique whenever you are making an oil-based recipe with fresh herbs.

3. ADD the pumpkin purée, garlic, half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, vinegar, optional red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pot. Take care because the oil is hot and can spatter. Stir the sauce until heated through (2 to 3 minutes).

4. ADD the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. Season generously with salt. Serve the pasta sprinkled with fried rosemary and, if desired, more red-pepper flakes.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PUMPKINS
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PASTA
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

[1] Black (squid ink) pasta atop a bright orange pumpkin sauce (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] Another creepy presentation: squid ink linguine with baby octopus (photo © Jultchik).

[3] Another option: orange-and-black pasta. This one is available on Amazon (photo © Antica Madia).

[1] A limited fall edition version of Weybridge from Vermont (photo © Jasper Hill Farm).

[2] Mimolette, perhaps the spookiest-looking cheese (photo © Tout 1 Fromage).

[3] Mimolette sliced. The rind is technically edible, though it’s quite tough and doesn’t have a particularly appealing taste (photo © Murray’s Cheese).

[4] Saxonshire is a layered cheese with all the colors of the moon (photos #4 and #5 © iGourmet).

[5] Huntsman combines the blue moon (Stilton cheese) with the harvest moon (Double Gloucester cheese).

[6] Some of the creepiest cheeses are goat cheeses, like Coupole from Vermont Creamery. It looks like brains (photos #6 and #7 © Vermont Creamery).

[7] Bonne Bouche is not far behind, with both ashes and “brains.”

Yesterday we presented Halloween Cheeses Part 1, beautiful Goudas and Cheddars with just the right colors to bring eye appeal and enchantment to cheese boards and other cheese presentations. Today, in Part 2, we present more favorites. Beyond a Halloween cheese plate, they also double as “harvest moon” cheeses for Thanksgiving. And they’ll keep things bright and interesting through the dreary winter ahead.
 
Remember that in addition to a Halloween or Thanksgiving cheese plate, these semi-hard cheeses lend themselves well to sandwiches, burgers, and dishes that call grated cheese: gratins, pastas, salads, and soups, for example.

They also make a visual splash when you bring a wedge to the table to grate over food.

Serve them with fall fruits: apples, grapes, and pears, plus dried fruits, and nuts.
 
 
ORANGE CHEESES

Weybridge Limited Edition

This “surprise!” cheese from the Scholten Family Farm in Vermont has a ghostly white bloomy rind, that reveals a tangy orange paste (the industry term for the interior of a cheese—photo #1).

An organic cheese, this limited edition version, a fall version of the regular Weybridge, has a dusting of vegetable ash on the rind for some extra spookiness.

Mimolette

Perhaps the creepiest of the cow’s milk cheeses, Mimolette is a round ball of cheese with a rind that looks like the cratered surface of the moon (photos #2 and #3).

Cut it open and there’s a blazing orange interior that also looks scary, but is made with the addition of annatto*, a natural food coloring. Depending on the amount used, the cheese can be light to deep orange.

The balls of Mimolette are aged in a damp environment, where thousands of microscopic cheese mites feed on the rind, making the “craters” on the rind.

This natural process gives the cheese its unique appearance, and also its unique flavor. The younger varieties are comparable in taste and aroma to Parmesan and can be used in the same way. As the cheese ages, it takes on a chewier and harder texture and hints of butter and hazelnuts.

The longer the cheese ages, the more we like it.

This semi-sharp cow’s milk cheese is produced in the area around Lille in Alsace, France. Try it with an Alsatian Riesling, or any other Alsatian white wine: Gewürtztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and the less-well-known Auxerrois and Sylvaner.
 
 
LAYERED CHEESES

Great Britain has two exciting cheeses with bright orange layers: easy on the eyes, and luscious on the palate.

Saxonshire Cheese

Saxonshire is also called “five counties cheese” because (you guessed it!) the five cheese layers are from different counties: Caerphilly, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Leicester, and Cheddar (photo #4).

The appearance of Saxonshire is dramatic and the combination of flavors is delightful. This eye-catching cheese is popular at holiday gatherings, served with simple crackers, tart apples, and walnuts.

Pair it with a light red wine or a crisp white wine.

Huntsman Cheese

Combine a blue moon with an autumn moon and you’ve got Huntsman cheese (photo #5). It’s a modern marriage of mellow, satiny Double Gloucester cheese and creamy blue Stilton, brought together through a complex layering process.

The result is a flavor combination that is as delicious as the cheese is handsome. Serve Huntsman with unsalted crackers—as Stilton contributes a bit of saltiness—sliced apples and walnuts.

You can also serve it shredded on top of chili, soup, or stew; and with a piece of apple pie. Both Saxonshire and Huntsman cheeses are made from pasteurized cow’s milk and vegetarian rennet.

For a wine pairing, try a dessert wine like Moscato, sweet Riesling, port, or sherry.
 
 
SPOOKY GOAT CHEESES

Goat cheeses can be the spookiest Halloween cheeses. We have a special article about them here.

See two of our favorites in photos #6 and #7.
 
 
FALL CHEESE CONDIMENTS

Along with bread, crackers, fruits, and nuts, serve a choice of condiments. Use ramekins for neatness. No ramekins? See what you do have, such as espresso cups and espresso spoons.

 
We love fruit breads and nut breads, and of course, breads that have both fruit and nuts. If you can’t find them, look for an artisan semolina loaf.

Enjoy these wonderful cheeses and condiments. Create a memorable cheese board. And have a Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving.
 
 
________________

*It’s annatto, a natural dye derived from achiote seeds. It’s the same natural color that differentiates yellow cheddar from white cheddar. In large amounts, annatto provides a slightly spicy flavor, but here in smaller touches, it delivers only the color.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Let the less sophisticated turophiles* make witches’ broomsticks out of string cheese. Here at The Nibble, we’re celebrating Halloween with sophisticated cheeses and…of course…pumpkin ales. If it’s fun you want, check out our article on Halloween fun with cheese. If it’s connoisseurship you want, keep reading.

These cheeses belong on a cheese board, but they also shine on a sandwich (including grilled cheese), on pasta and pizza, and in casseroles. Serve a thin wedge to a salad, or cube them for finger food skewers or snacks.

This is Part 1 of Halloween Cheeses; part 2 arrives tomorrow.

You can find most of these cheeses online. There are specialty cheese sites like iGourmet; and specialty cheese sites also sell on Amazon.
 
 
GOUDA

Basiron Pesto Rosso & Basiron Hot Sauce

Basiron is a Gouda-style cow’s milk cheese that is so popular when we first wrote about it 11 years ago there were a whopping 13 different flavors. Today, there double that: an even-more-whopping 26 flavors, including trending flavors like hot sauce, lavender and za’atar.

For Halloween, the new Basiron Hot Sauce and the classic Basiron Pesto Rosso are cheeseboard show-stoppers. Basiron is a Gouda-style cheese made in Holland. Basiron Pesto Rosso gets its harvest-red color from the addition of a pesto of red tomatoes, and its exciting flavor from the addition of basil (pesto) and garlic.

Basiron Hot Sauce gets its flaming hot flavor and color from Tabasco.

The cheesemaker, Veldhuyzen Kaas, also makes an emerald-green version without the tomatoes called Basiron Pesto and a lighter-green Basiron Wasabi which can be presented as “green cheese from the moon.”

Think ahead to a red and green cheese plate for Christmas! Basiron is so popular, the company makes thirteen different flavors, not all of which are available in the U.S. One which is, is the bright green pesto variety, perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.

Gouda: Extra Triple Aged

The longer a Gouda ages, the more golden-brown the paste becomes. You can find Goudas that are aged for a full five years and have intense and complex flavors.

One of the nuances in an aged Gouda is the crunchy white calcium lactate crystals, which precipitate from the lactic acid. Call them “creepy crunchies” for Halloween.

The color reminds us of a pale yellow—not orange—moon. Who knew that there were 48 different colors of the moon! Here they are, from NASA.

Here’s more about Gouda, Holland’s culinary prize.
 
 
CHEDDAR

Aged cheddars take on the color of a harvest moon. Any of them can grace a Halloween cheeseboard. Here are two of our favorites.

Harissa Cheddar

Take a sturdy English cheddar and add the spicy North African spice blend, harissa, and you’ve got a cheddar that packs some punch.

A harissa spice blend usually contains roasted chili peppers, toasted cumin seeds, coriander seeds, smoked paprika, chopped parsley, kosher salt, and garlic. Flakes of harissa provide bursts of heat and flavor.

This one isn’t easy to find, but we found it on Amazon.

Cahill’s Farm: Flavored Irish Cheddar

Cahill’s Farm Flavored Irish Cheddar comes from County Limerick in the Emerald Isle, where Marion Cahill developed a group of flavored Cheddars that are as fascinating to look at as they are exciting to taste (photo #4).

The red-marbled Elderberry and brown-marbled Porter flavors are ideal for Halloween. You can look at them as beautiful and marbled…or as creepy “blood Cheddar.”

Serve a pumpkin ale with the Elderberry, and a glass of porter with the Porter.

Here’s more about Cheddar cheese, the favorite of ancient monarchs.
 
As a cheese condiment, how about some pumpkin jam?

> Continue to Halloween Cheeses Part 2

[1] Two Gouda cheeses have this deep red color: Basiron Pesto Rosso and Basiron Hot Sauce (all photos © iGourmet).

[2] Gouda takes on more gold color as it ages. This 26-month-old Gouda takes on the color of a harvest moon.

[3] Not just any English Cheddar: This variety, flecked with red chiles is flavored with spicy harissa.

[4] These marbled Irish Cheddars are showstoppers, flavored with elderberry juice and porter.

*A turophile is a connoisseur or lover of cheese. It’s a combination of the Greek word for cheese, tyros, plus the English -phile, meaning lover (which derives from the Greek -philos, meaning loving. You’d think it was an old word, but turophile first seems to appear in 1938 [source].

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Semisweet chocolate bar with dried fruits and nuts (photos #1 and #2 © Pampered Chef).

[2] A white chocolate bar with rainbow sprinkles.

[3] Dulcey or blonde chocolate, created by Valrhona, is white chocolate that has been caramelized to a buttery, rich caramel flavor. These bars are sprinkled with cookie pearls at Nuchocolat (photo © Nuchocolat).

[4] Decorations typically don’t add flavor, but they contribute good looks. These gold sugar pearls are from Weraru).

October 18th is a holiday most Americans are happy to celebrate: National Chocolate Day. While it’s easy to pick up some of your favorites—bark, bars, bonbons, truffles, and more, in just 20 minutes you can have a batch of homemade chocolate bars. The best part: use the add-ons of your dreams to create your signature chocolate bar. Your chocolate bar, your way.

To make individual candy bars, you’ll need a special silicone tray with wells. Here’s one from Pampered Chef.

Use it for:

 
Next, pick your chocolate type: blonde/dulcey (photo #3), dark, milk, or white.

Finally, gather as many add-ons as you like. Some ideas:

 
 
RECIPE: HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE BARS

Thanks to Pampered Chef for this easy recipe. Prep time is 5 minutes, cook time is 15 minutes.

For a finer quality chocolate bar, use chocolate disks (a.k.a. wafers) instead of chocolate chips.
 
Ingredients For 12 Small* Bars

 
Preparation

1. MICROWAVE the chocolate and oil in a 3-cup heatproof bowl for 2–3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, or until smooth.

2. PLACE an even layer of add-ins on the bottom of the bar mold wells. Pour the chocolate over the top and smooth out with a small spatula.

3. CHILL the tray in the freezer for about 15 minutes, or in the refrigerator until the candy bars are set.
 
 
MORE ABOUT CHOCOLATE

> CHOCOLATE TYPES & TERMS

> CHOCOLATE HISTORY

> CHOCOLATE BARK HISTORY

> CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES HISTORY
 
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*Approximately 2″ wide x 4″ long. If you want larger bars, there are many molds available online. You’ll need to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Here’s our last pumpkin pasta recipe of the season. October is National Pasta Month and National Pumpkin Month. National Pasta Day is October 17th; October 25th is World Pasta Day. October 26th is National Pumpkin Day. We’ve been partying with pasta: celebrating the harvest season and shortly, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Pumpkin recipes shouldn’t stop when Thanksgiving is over. Nutritious, colorful pumpkin makes comfort food recipes all through the bleak, cold winter, too.

This recipe is courtesy of Frigo Cheese.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN LASAGNA

This recipe specifies Swiss chard, but you can use any variety of chard. Swiss chard is the white-stemmed variety. Golden (yellow)-stem and red-stem chard are also common. Rainbow chard is simply all three varieties packed together for maximum good looks.

Chard is particularly popular in Italian food, where it’s added to pasta dishes, risotto, and even tops a pizza. Its flavor is similar to spinach, but more bitter when eaten raw.

If you’re not familiar with chard, a member of the beet family, here’s more about it.

If you need a chard substitute, look to black Tuscan kale (a.k.a. cavalo nero, dinosaur kale, and lacinato kale), mature (not baby) spinach, or mustard greens.

Prep time is 40 minutes, cook time is 40 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 8-10 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot, as directed on the package. Drain slowly into a colander. See the notes* in the footnote below.

2. MELT the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 1 minute.

3. ADD the Swiss chard, salt, pepper, sage, and nutmeg and sauté for about 6 minutes, or until wilted and no liquid remains.

4. COMBINE in a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin purée, the ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, and half of the grated parmesan.

5. LAYER 3 lasagna noodles in a buttered 9×13-inch baking dish (trim if necessary). Spread 1/2 of the pumpkin mixture over the noodles in an even layer. Top with 1/2 of the Swiss chard and layer with 3 more noodles. Cover with 1/3 pumpkin mixture.

6. REPEAT the layering of lasagna noodles, pumpkin, Swiss chard, another layer of noodles and finish with the remaining ricotta cheese mixture. Layer with the remaining 3 noodles. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese.

7. BAKE for 35-40 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted. Remove from the oven. Garnish with the optional sage and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
 
 
MORE PUMPKIN PASTA RECIPES
& SOME PUMPKIN PIZZA RECIPE, TOO

 
 
MORE ABOUT PASTA

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTA

> THE HISTORY OF PASTA

> THE HISTORY OF BAKED PASTA

[1] This pumpkin lasagna adds a layer of nutritious, delicious chard (photos #1 and #4 © Frigo Cheese).

[2] Rainbow chard is simply a bundling of white-stem (Swiss), golden and red chard (photo © Heather Barnes | Wesual | Unsplash).

[3] We love the flavor of sage with pumpkin dishes. We’ve added it here as an optional garnish (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] The Frigo lineup.

[5] More pumpkin pasta: pumpkin manicotti. Here’s the recipe (photo © Taste Of Home).

[6] Pumpkin gnocchi with butter-sage sauce. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

*Here’s what we’ve learned the hard way: Stir the noodles continuously for the first two minutes so they don’t clump together or stick to the bottom of the pot. Separate the noodles with a chopstick. Continue to separate as needed during the boiling process. Drain them slowly into a colander so they don’t stick together. Do not rinse the noodles: The starch on their surface helps the sauce stick to the noodles. If you’re not ready to assemble the noodles in the baking dish, lay the noodles flat on a piece of foil, parchment, or wax paper, to keep the pieces from sticking together.