Halloween Recipe: Ghoul-ash with Death Cap Mushrooms

They say great minds think alike and in the case of Felix Galvan, author of the fantasy book The NecroNomNomNomicon: Cookbook of the Dead, that couldn’t be truer.

Everybody knows about the Necronomicon, but it takes someone with a whole different level of madness to dive deep into the underbelly of Hell and pull forth the culinary chaos that is the NecroNomNomNomicon; so when another fellow author reached out to me to tell me that he’d written a novel with the same name as my own demonic cookbook, I was intrigued…intrigued enough to order my own copy and check it out.  (Believe it or not, we DO have Amazon.com in Hell.  You’d be surprised how much we use Prime for things like pitchforks and heavy duty industrial chains.)

The book in question, the NecroNomNomNomicon

I went into this sordid tale of cooking and dark magic with an open mind, hoping at the very least for a few hours of entertainment and mild amusement.  What I found instead was a well-written adventure that kept me engaged from the first chapter to the (could have been much more) bloody end.

Of course, talent like this can’t go unrecognized, so I’d like to take a second to introduce you to the author, Felix Galvan.

Felix has been writing since 2009 and has had this story rattling around in his mind for almost as long.  The story is told from multiple points of views, but my favorite has to be through the eyes of Boy, a scruffy, no-nonsense poodle who turns out to be the hero of the story.

(Side note, did you know all poodles (and Chihuahuas) are direct descendants of Hell Hounds?  Forget the wolf theory…these little needle toothed terrorists are all demon dog progeny. ) 

Ahem, back to the book.  The story is fun, engaging, and surprisingly accurate, with more than a few recipes I not only recognize, but have enjoyed myself…including the one I’ll be sharing with you today, Ghoul-ash. Of course, due to the fact that I’m not about to give you the same exact ingredients we have in Hell, your results may vary from those experienced by the characters in the book (and if you’re curious to know what those are, you’ll have to read it to find out.  No spoilers here!)

Felix may have finished the first book, but has a second, follow-up sequel coming soon…and I’m hoping it includes more fun recipes and adventures.

I asked Felix if he had anything else he’d like to tell the denizens of Hell and he had these sage words of advice to share:  “Travel, write, sing, dance.  Find something to love and do it.  Don’t sit idle,* and always remember to say please and thank you.  And remember a smile will get you far.”

Thank you, Felix, for the great story and the inspiration for tonight’s feast!

And now, without further ado, Ghoulish Ghoulash, as written about in Felix Galvan’s The NecroNomNomNomicon:  The cookbook of the Dead (Available now on Amazon.com!)

To make your own Ghoulish Ghoulash you will need the following ingredients:

• 1 ½ lbs fillet of beef
• 2 Tablespoons of butter, divided
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, divided
• ½ Cup red onion, diced
• 2 Cups white mushrooms, divided and washed
• ¼ Teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon garlic, diced
• ½ Teaspoon chopped basil
• 4 Cups fresh spinach
• 4 Cups uncooked egg noodles
• ½ Cup white wine
• 1 Cup sour cream
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoon black food coloring

Start by first putting your noodles into a pot of boiling water with your black food coloring, 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Allow to cook until tender.

Pound your beef flat and cut it into cubes roughly ½ inch square.  Sautee your beef cubes in a frying pan with 1 Tablespoon of your butter, the garlic, and a few pinches of salt.

When the cubes are browned, add in your diced onions and allow them to cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Remove the beef and onions from the heat using a slotted spoon, making sure the butter and liquid from your beef and onions is still in the bottom of your pan.

Divide your mushrooms in half and slice one cup into thin slices.  Add those to your beef and onion pan and sautee until golden.

While your sliced mushrooms are cooking, it’s time to carve your whole mushrooms into death caps.

(Side Note:  Yes, you could use REAL death cap mushrooms, but then you’d die..and odds are it would be before your time and therefore a direct violation of our current “On Time Human Termination Policy” which means lots of paperwork for me and probably some explanations to the poor pencil pushing schlubs that run the Souls Intake Department– so do me a favor and let’s stick with the non-toxic kind for this version, okay?  In order to give your meal the appearance of using death caps, I’m turning to my good friend over at Castellon’s Kitchen for an easy-to-make and safe-to-eat death cap substitution)

Using a small straw, poke two holes into the fronts of your whole mushroom caps and rotate to create eye holes.  A sharp knife and a well place trianhttps://castellonskitchen.blogspot.com/gle creates the nose.  To do the teeth, take the tines of a fork and run them down the stem of your mushroom.  Congratulations, you now have imitation death cap mushrooms…guaranteed to look deadly without actually being deadly.

Pop your whole mushrooms into a pot of lightly salted boiling water and allow them to boil while you complete the rest of the recipe.

By now your sliced mushrooms should be cooked.  Add your beef and onions back to the pan and mix all together.

Add in your nutmeg, basil, and white wine and allow to simmer (but not boil) for about 5 minutes.

Your noodles should be done by now.  Drain them and toss with 1 Tablespoon of butter and set aside.

Toss your spinach into the same pot you used to cook your pasta, add in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt, and over medium heat, flash wilt it until it’s reduced in size by about half but not completely cooked down.

Take your wilted spinach and place it down on your serving platter and/or plate.  Layer your now black buttered noodles on top of your spinach.

Add your cup of sour cream to your beef and stir to coat evenly.

Gently spoon your sauced beef, onions, and sliced mushrooms over your bed of noodles and lettuce.

Using tongs, carefully arrange your death cap mushrooms around the serving platter or your plate.

Serve with hot, buttered slices of Black Like My Soul Bread and enjoy!  This dish can be shared with your victims friends or whipped up on a cold stormy night when you want something warm in your tummy while you read Felix’s book.

Either way, enjoy, and as always…

Bone Appetite!

If you’d like more information about Felix, feel free to follow him on Twitter, his very entertaining blog, his page on Smashwords, and of course, pick up his book on Amazon.com.

*Felix’s wise words of advice aside, Idle hands are still my favorite.

By the way, faithful denizens, this post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Annika at We Must Be Dreamers and the theme is HALLOWEEN.

 Click on over to see what else is going on in the wide world of food blogging, but don’t forget to come back for more dark deliciousness.

 

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THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL, NO-DERIVATIVES 2.5 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE.  YOU’RE WELCOME TO MAKE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING SHOWCASED ON THE NECRO NOM-NOM-NOMICON, BUT MAY NOT DO IT FOR COMMERCIAL OR FINANCIAL GAIN.  YOU MAY NOT COPY, DISTRIBUTE OR MODIFY THESE RECIPES IN ANY WAY WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE NECRO NOM-NOM-NOMICON.  NO RECIPE, TUTORIAL OR PROJECT MAY BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL OR PROFIT USE.