Halloween Soup (based on the book Bone Soup, by Crambira Evans)
“Bone soup is what I make
A magic bone is all it takes
Boil it long and add some spice
Bone soup tastes so very nice!”
I have always loved the story of stone soup. I love the simple traveler bringing together the stingy townspeople to overcome their selfishness and create a beautiful meal together. I even have a stone soup recipe! Bone Soup, by Cambria Evans, is the Halloween version of this story.
The story is about a creature whose appetite precedes him and before he reaches town the residents hideaway all their food so they won’t have to share. Undeterred the creature, whose name is Finnigin the Eater, starts to make soup in the town square. And as their curiosity is peaked, the towns-creatures come out to watch with hesitation. One by one they all add their ghastly ingredients to the soup pot. The witch gives jer jars of eyeballs. The three-eyed monster gives his batwings. The zombie family give their frog legs. And so on.
And when everyone has shown their deeply buried generosity, and the soup is finished, they are all rewarded with a lovely feast.
The retelling of this classic is sweet and perfectly suited to a fun, silly, and not-at-all-spooky, Halloween story. After a few renewals and overdue library notices, we decided to add this book to our collection. And we decided to make our own version of Bone Soup, also known as Halloween Soup.
I highly recommend getting the book Bone Soup, by Cambria Evans and reading it with your kids, and then making this soup. It’s very filling, especially with wormy cheese (regular cheese will do in a pinch) and bread. Would make the perfect, pre-trick-or-treating meal.
It’s no secret that my kids aren’t huge soup fans, however, if I theme a soup they are much much more willing to eat it. This is true for my original Stone Soup, my Unicorn Soup, and a couple of others that haven’t been blogged yet.
Ghastly Ingredients (and ghoulish substitutions)
My kids find great joy in eating through their soup and pointing out all the nasty things they are eating. “Oh look! I’m eating a spoonful of spider eggs, mouse droppings, and an eyeball!”
Green Broth - A mixture of greens is what makes the broth a wickedly green color. I used a mix of spinach and kale. But you can use pretty much any good mild cooking green vegetables. Broccoli would work, so would dandelion greens. The book actually mentions dandelions as an ingredient in Bone Soup, and it would be really fun for kids to see that you really can eat dandelion greens! (See the note about dandelions.)
Eyeballs - New potatoes make perfect eyeballs. They don’t have irises or pupils, but if you really want those to be a bit more authentic, you can attach sliced olives with toothpicks after the soup is cooked.
Dandelions - You can actually eat dandelions! And the greens and roots are highly nutritious vegetables. However, they are hard to find in October and they are hard to find grown in a safe way. You do not want to eat dandelions that have been anywhere near a sprayed or treated area. My local health food store actually sells dandelion greens in the springtime, but again, not in October. So instead of actual dandelions, we used carrots that were cut into flower shapes. you can use a cookie cutter to do this, or a zesting tool works well too.
Toenail Clippings - A pretty easy swap is to use celery that has been sliced so that it stays in that half-moon, U shape.
Froglegs - If you have access to real frog legs feel free to use those! But if not, green beans are good enough.
Spider Eggs - We used both green peas and corn for spider eggs. Feel free to use one or the other or both.
Batwings - Kale leaves are rather batwing-like. So that’s what we used. If you have access to purple kale, this would look even more like batwings.
Mouse Droppings - For whatever reason, mouse droppings and toenail clippings are the grossest “ingredients” to me. But thankfully they are simple to replace. I used simple black sesame seeds sprinkled on top of the soup for the mouse droppings.
There are also other regular ingredients, like butter, onions, garlic, and spices. But these are hardly worth mentioning among this gnarly group of flavors. A generous squeeze of fresh lemon for serving really makes the soup bright and delicious.
The Magic Bone
The book calls for a magic bone to make the soup. Much like stone soup has a magic stone. I have a large turkey bone I keep in my freezer and pull out only to make this soup. It really doesn’t do anything for the flavor, it just gives the kids some fun. The bone has been used and rinsed off every Halloween for the past few years. If you're making this soup with your kids after reading the story Bone Soup, you may need the bone for the experience. And you’ll need to add it with as much flair as you can muster just like Finnigin the Eater does. If you are just making the soup for fun without reading the story first, it’s probably not necessary.
Halloween Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter (or other cooking fat)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 8 cups chicken bone broth, separated
- 1 can coconut milk
- 8 oz. mild cooking greens (spinach, kale, dandelion greens, etc...)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 1/2 lb. new potatoes
- 1 large carrot, cut into flower shapes
- 2 large celery sticks, sliced into U's
- 3 cups chicken, cook and shredded
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup fresh kale leaves, torn into somewhat large pieces
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- Optional, for garnish:
- Fresh lemon juice
- Black sesame seeds
- Fresh heavy cream
- Crumbled bacon
Instructions
- To cut the carrots into flower shapes: Use a small flower cookie cutter to cut carrot coins into flower shapes. Alternatively, a zesting tool can be used to scrap divots into the sides of the carrots before cutting into flower rounds.
- To cut the celery into toenail shapes: Slice the celery stalks across so that they are in U shapes. These look like rather large toenails.
- To prepare the batwings with kale: tear the kale leaves off the stem and into slightly larger than bite-size pieces. They should be about the size of a folded-up, small batwing.
- In a large stockpot melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion and a sprinkle of salt. If you have any scraps from the carrots and celery, even the leaves, add them to the pot to caramelize as well, this will give you great flavor. Cook the onion until translucent and fragrant, then add the garlic and cook for just a little while so as not to burn the garlic. Add 4 cups of bone broth and deglaze the pan.
- Pour the bone broth with the onions and garlic into a blender and add the greens, parsley, and coconut milk. Blend until very smooth. Make sure the blender is vented and it's okay to blend hot liquids. Alternatively, use an immersion blender. Reserve this green broth.
- In the same stockpot add the rest of the bone broth and a generous sprinkle of salt, the new potato "eyeballs", the carrot "dandelions", and celery "toenails", and boil until the potatoes are cooked. Then add in the shredded chicken, green bean "frog legs," peas and/or corn "spider eggs," fresh kale "batwings," crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and the reserved green broth. Cook just until everything is nice and hot. Check the seasoning and adjust as needed.
- Top with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice, some black sesame seed "mouse droppings," and if you like a drizzle of fresh heavy cream, and crumbled bacon.
