Eyeball Soup

Reposted here as part of my on-going effort to grasp the wisps and straws of my recipes from across the blogosphere and collect them all in one place.

Yup it is that season when we start to figure out how best to gross out neighbors and friends. Why scary and gross are essential elements of Halloween is not entirely clear to me. I always associated it with storybook characters and princesses [yeah right --ed] But now that my house is dominated by tweens and teens gross reigns supreme. So this year on the menu for our annual Halloween party will be buttered brains and eyeball soup.

The idea for Eyeball soup is straight out of Martha Stewart. In fact her recipe can be found here. But that version just sounds disgusting and I really don’t like cream of tomato soup so here is the version stewing in my cauldron this year.

About 1/4 cup diced carrots
About 1/4 cup diced celery
About 3/4 cup diced onion

Saute in a tiny bit of olive oil until soft and translucent but not browned.

Add garlic to taste
1 or 2 cans vegetable broth
1-2 cans water
2 big cans crushed tomatoes

Simmer. Season with black pepper, additional garlic, salt and basil.

Taste. Here is the key part. Every can of tomatoes seems to have a different level of acidity. Likewise with the carrots and onions. Sweet carrots and sweet onions can offset the acidity of the tomatoes. But… They may not be sweet enough. You may have to adjust with a TINY amount of brown sugar. You are not trying to get sweet soup. You want to reduce the acidity. Go slow. Add a bit and taste. Add again if needed. I usually end up adding 1-2 Tablespoons of brown sugar but sometimes I need more and sometimes less.

Once you get the taste right put the soup through a food mill in small batches. Be careful if you are working with it hot. Food mills are not as stable as they should be. You can use a processor, stick blender or blender but I like the smooth texture I get from the food mill.

At this point the soup is done and can elegantly served with croutons made of toasted French bread brushed with garlic and olive oil with a little gruyere cheese melted on top. (Or melt in a dab of butter as one relative does.)

However… since this is gross-out time we need eyeballs. A couple handfuls of pearl onions should do nicely. Heat through. Serve with fingers. (Above gruyere croutons cut into finger-like strips.)

Oughtta be gruesome enough for the ghouls around here.

Update 10/24/2005: This was submitted for the Carnival of the Recipes. The schedule for upcoming Carnivals is posted here.

I went searching for an image to post with this recipe and discovered that there are about a bajillion ways to make or fake eyeball soup. Who knew?