No-fuss hors d'oeuvres are one of those golden tenets of entertaining, and for that, nothing beats a good crudité. Prepare ahead, refrigerate, and assemble. That way, there's plenty more time for actually enjoying your party, instead of running around the kitchen working up a sweat—so not pretty. Here's a creepy version of a crudité I did on the Halloween special this month. It's an easy way to use all the colorful gourds of the season, but in a totally unconventional way. Plus it's healthy, so you won't feel guilty frying up a few fall tortilla chips to go along with it. Start by assembling a good mix of sizes, shapes, colors and textures.
Grab a sharp serrated knife—I used a wood saw from Home Depot—cut a wavy pattern around your gourd, scoop out the innards, then slice off the bottom so it sits nice and flat.
And there you go! It's the perfect container (with lid!) for a creepy crudité.
To save time, you could even get all pre-cut vegetables from the grocery store. Just make sure you ditch the plastic platter for a more spooky spread.
And for the swamp dip? It's super gourmet, so take notes: Lipton Onion Soup Mix and sour cream. How easy is that? Sure, I could have concocted something completely original (and so could you!), but why bother when you could use a 1950s classic that everybody loves anyway. At least they did for Spooktacular Cocktails & Beastly Bites, the ghoulish gathering we had at the fantastic home accessories store Wish in Rye.
Among the other tasty treats, fall leaf tortilla chips and spiderweb cupcakes, both reincarnations from a previous life. And for a blood-red punch as quick and delicious as this one, combine Pom juice, vodka, Fresca, and fresh floating pomegranate seeds and slices to satisfy even the most sanguinary among you.
Our most sincere thanks to the temptress of Wish herself, Denise MacDonald, and to our dear friend Elizabeth, whose stylish house you may have toured around town.
And so with Halloween a day a way, and a growing guest list of hungry heathens, why not create a crudité that's beautiful, healthy and oh-so-creepy?
Please pick me to win that pillow. I love this blog.
Posted by: Rachel Anastasio | November 03, 2009 at 10:38 AM
That is the coolest veggie presentation I have ever seen!
Posted by: Erica LeBlanc | November 02, 2009 at 09:22 PM
Iam waiting anxiously to get the slipcover I from slipcovershop.com!!! I'm thinking that gorgeous pillow would look perfect on my new slipcover!! Are you going to be in the Seattle area soon?? Thanks for all the great inspiration Gina T
Posted by: Gina Theodor | November 02, 2009 at 06:28 PM
I did your cabbage crudite for a party on Friday as I recently commented about and everyone loved it. It was the hit of the party! I gave you all of the credit, of course. Keep up the great posts, I love getting onto your blog every morning and anxiously awaiting what new, great idea you have in store. Hope you come to Portland, OR sometime. I would definitely buy tickets to whatever you were doing!
Posted by: Jillian | November 01, 2009 at 01:12 PM
Love ya Eddie! We used some of your photos - hope you don't mind.
Posted by: Perch | October 31, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Eddie, Made your sangria recipe last night for my Halloween party & it was a HUGE hit! I used a red Spanish wine (from World Market) along with the Fresca & some fresh fruit. So easy & everyone enjoyed it, plus the red color made it more spooky. Thanks for sharing your easy & delicious recipes.
Posted by: Christy | October 31, 2009 at 01:29 PM
You will now really be encouraged to eat your veggies...
Fun fun fun!
Enjoy tonight!
Trick-or-treat!
XX
Victoria
Posted by: Victoria Zlotkowski | October 31, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Lipton Onion Soup Mix and sour cream how perfect, some things are not to be fooled with.
xoxoxo
Posted by: Shandell's | October 30, 2009 at 08:07 AM
You are so right! That is my favorite dip! In fact I have some in the fridge right now.! It all looks delicious and perfectly Halloween.
Posted by: lisa | October 30, 2009 at 12:22 AM
FUN!
Posted by: an encourager | October 29, 2009 at 09:42 PM
Beautiful spread, Eddie! You always make everything picture perfect. Hope you have a great Halloween weekend. Thank you for stopping by to see me! :)
Posted by: Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality | October 29, 2009 at 08:03 PM
How gorgeously creepy! I am going to try and recreate a scaled down version for my Grandkids that are going to be with us Saturday night. You always have the best suggestions. Thank you so much for sharing your special talent with all of us.
XOXO
Posted by: Sue | October 29, 2009 at 07:49 PM
no no no...not the lasagna...the baked brain. go back! click on baked brain in the sidebar. this is something you will really love!
Posted by: jaz | October 29, 2009 at 07:16 PM
you should really check out the baked brain on my blog. you will love it!
Posted by: jaz | October 29, 2009 at 06:40 PM
Love it...
Kathy :)
Posted by: Kathy :) | October 29, 2009 at 06:05 PM
Yum! The colors of fall are always so gorgeous.
Posted by: Keri | October 29, 2009 at 03:43 PM
This is brilliant, Eddie! I love the beautiful colors of the creepy crudite- and that Pom punch sounds delicious!
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. The AsianCajuns (and our mom) are huge fans of all things Eddie Ross- always an inspiration. Thank you!!!!
Posted by: AsianCajuns (Lauren) | October 29, 2009 at 03:18 PM
good way of getting kids to eat veggies!
clever...and a creepy!
pve
Posted by: pve | October 29, 2009 at 02:19 PM