I demand photographic evidence!

Eggplant! Blech! The rest of it sounds good, though.

I don't know what I'm cooking tonight, but I do know that I'm cooking with a date who is quite probably a better cook than I am, so I'm both excited and trepidated.

Sounds kind of like ratatouille with potatoes.

In other words, delicious.

Great traditional halloween recipe for me:

Beef Stew in a Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut top off 5-lb sugar pumpkin (butternut squash would work, too, although the bottom's not as flat so it might get a little tippy), reserving top to use as lid, later.

Hollow out pumpkin as if you're making a jack-o-lantern.

Place pumpkin on greased or non-stick foil in shallow roasting pan, set aside. (if you've used a butternut squash, you may need to prop it upright with a couple strategically placed balls of foil.)

Heat 1 T (Tablespoon) vegetable oil in large, heavy pot (I use a cast-iron dutch oven, but whatever) over med-high heat.

Brown 1 lb of beef cut up into 1/2-inch cubes (preferably a small chuck roast you've cubed yourself). Browning will take 5 -10 minutes. If you do it quicker, you haven't browned the beef enough. Remove beef to bowl.

Add about a cup-and-a-half of beef (or whatever kind) stock to pot, and deglaze, scraping up the deliciousness with a wooden spoon.

Pour liquid over beef.

Wipe out pot, lower heat, and sautee 3 small sliced yellow onions (or one large sweet one like a vidalia or walla walla) and 3 small peeled, chopped parsnips in about 1 T melted butter until fully translucent, almost carmelized, maybe 10-15 minutes or so.
Return beef and liquid to the pot, stirring to mix well.

Add the following:
1/2 t (teaspoon) freshly-ground cinnamon
1/2 t freshly-grated nutmeg
1/4 (or more) bourbon or rye whiskey. Do not, under any circumstances, substitute single malt scotch, as I did once. Single malts, while delicious, tend to overwhelm everything else. Lesson learned...

Mix well, continuing to cook on med. heat for another 5 minutes or so, then spoon mixture into the hollowed out pumpkin.

Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar over the top, and then put the whole thing in the oven.

Bake 1 1/2 hrs (90 minutes), then place the pumpkin lid in the roasting pan next to your stew.

Bake approx. another 45 min. to an hour, til they stew is done and the pumpkin lid is tender.

Add salt & pepper to taste, place the lid on the pumpkin, and then VERY CAREFULLY (it will be soft) transfer the pumpkin to a serving platter.

Place platter on table, serve stew out of pumpkin.

Serve with warm loaf of crusty french or italian bread, and salad or brussels sprouts or whatever you like.

Please note that cooking times are, of course, approximate. Check for doneness early and often. The beef is done when a fork cuts it like a knife...

Serves 4. To make for 8, double recipe and use two pumpkins, not one that's twice as large

Oh yum. I'm having dinner out with a friend tonight, but on the chopping block for the weekend is pumpkin butter (it being all over the food blogs this week) and either chili or a butternut squash soup.

Holy crap, dersins. You have no idea how I've been looking for a great beef stew recipe. It sounds gorgeous and delicious.

I was thinking of making the Zuni Cafe roast chicken with bread salad tonight, which I had never heard of until this Metafilter thread so I preemptively declare that Zuni Cafe roast chicken with bread salad followed by pumpkin pie is my Halloween traditional dinner from now on.

Will do, ico! Though, a pretty picture of Briami is going to be tough, I think.

By the way, if anyone decides to try the recipe, my technique is to pour in enough oil to barely cover the bottom of my largest frying pan (which is also really nice and deep and ever so handy) and sautee all the vegetables (except the tomatoes and garlic, which come last) except the eggplant first. By using a slotted spoon to transfer the batches to the big oven pan, you can conserve enough oil to get through all the veggies, pretty much (you may have to add a dash of oil). Then tackle the eggplant, which will swallow a whole bottle of oil if you let it. Start with the remaining oil, which will disappear immediately, and keep adding only enough to keep the eggplant from sticking as you constantly toss the eggplant in the pan, stir-fry style.

Not that lots of olive oil in this dish isn't quite delicious, but if you're trying to lighten up on fats, you do what you can. However, I'm now looking at my newly opened bottle of olive oil, and don't think I was quite able to half the oil. At any rate, this is a big roasting pan of veggies, so it's not too bad - per square inch. :)

Taz, that sounds spectacular!

I'll be dining alone tonight, The Fella being at work. I think I'll have roasted squash and garlic-braised chard, maybe biscuits and onion jam to round it out.

Roasted squash would be much more believable as a Halloween tradition if we didn't serve it every few days through autumn and winter.

I did, however, make vampire cupcakes. I wimped out and used a cake mix, frozen tart cherries pureed in a blender, and a simple off-the-cuff frosting with butter, confectioner's sugar, Kirsch, and milk instead of the whipped marshmallow frosting described in the link, but they look spooky and taste fantastic.

My dad and I, both Halloween scrooges, are meeting for dinner at an Indian restaurant to avoid the knocking at our respective doors.

Huh, I thought iconomy was a vegan.

I'm cooking with a date who is quite probably a better cook than I am

Is that even possible?

P.S. I want to hire dersins as my personal foodie.

amro, I am. The rest of the family isn't, which is ok because I like to cook, but a pain in the ass because I have to make stuff for me, stuff for them.

Okay, ico - not a lovely photo, but here it is, straight out of the oven. It would have more contrast if I used regular dark green bell peppers, but I used hungarian peppers, so it loses a bit of aesthetic niceynicey.

≡ Click to see image ≡

hey, pups, I missed the date comment. Have fun! As my pub friends say in these situations, "take one for the team."

That is soooo gorgeous, taz. I can almost smell it from here.

wow! Taz, just Wow! It almost makes me want to cook (which I have avoided for two whole days now, a record for me)

That looks phenomenal, taz. Can you... just hold on until I make it over? Shouldn't take *too* long.

crush: Will do!

Oh, yum yum yum!!! We have so many good chefs here.

My mom's making dinner tonight. Meatloaf in the shape of a ghost for Halloween. Good ol' mom.

Have a good date, Pups!

Thanks!

Sorry, didn't mean to derail!

Taz, that sounds delicious! I made spaghetti with meatballs. Not a bit was homemade. Paul Newman sauce, dried pasta, and frozen meatballs. I needed something simple.