I always love seasonal items, especially when browsing through retail stores and supermarkets. With Halloween fast approaching, I’m excited to see adorable decorations everywhere, making the shopping experience even more special.

This inspired me to create Halloween-themed pasta shapes, specifically bats and pumpkins. Instead of using food colouring, I opted for squid ink for the black bats and carrot puree for the orange pumpkins. I used cookie cutters to shape them.

Ingredients for colouring:

• Nortindal Cuttlefish Squid Ink: Black Colour
• Carrot Puree: Orange Colour (steam until soft, then mash)

Ingredients for black dough:

• 250g (8.8 oz) all-purpose flour
• 45g (1.6 oz) squid ink
• 2 large eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for orange dough:

• As above, replace squid ink with 45 gr (1.6 oz) carrot puree.

Instructions:

1. Make the Dough:
   • Sift the flour into a bowl, then add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil.
   • In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork.
   • Mix the flour, eggs, and squid ink until a dough begins to form.
   • Knead the dough in the bowl until it no longer sticks to the sides.
   • Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until soft.
   • Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll Out the Dough:
   • Cut the dough into quarters for easier handling.
   • Roll it out as thin as possible using a rolling pin.
   • Use bat-shaped cookie cutters to cut out shapes, sprinkling flour as needed to prevent sticking.
3. Repeat for the Pumpkin Dough:
   • Follow the same steps as above, replacing the squid ink with carrot puree. Since carrot puree has more moisture, add extra flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, adding a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil.
2. Add the pasta. It’s cooked when it floats to the surface, typically around 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness.

This recipe also works well with regular long noodles, such as fettuccine. For additional colours, you can use spinach puree for green and beetroot for red. If you have a pasta machine, it will make rolling the dough easier before cutting it into strips.

Whether you’re celebrating at home or going trick-or-treating, I hope you have a wonderfully spooky Halloween. Happy Halloween!