A bit of fun for Halloween night! If you’re having friends over for a drink, then this is the perfect way to serve up a few demonic dips and creepy crudités…

Hollow out cooked beetroot with a melon-baller. Remember; if you’re on a ketogenic-diet then the beetroot is just for decoration. Beetroot is fairly heavy on the carbs, so is best consumed with restraint.

Fill the hollowed-out cauldrons with a selection of your favourite dips. I’ve chosen Middle-Eastern Baba Ganoush, topped with pesto, it’s very low in carbohydrate and won’t impact your blood-sugar. Recipe follows below…

Arrange the beetroot-cauldrons on a bed of sprouting-broccoli and frankfurter sausages, placing upright chantenay carrots at internals to serve as ‘flames’. The carrots too are only for decoration if you’re in the weight-loss phase of a diet. Diabetics, or those with a higher carbohydrate-allowance can dig in with gusto!

Devilishly delicious and incredibly easy. The perfect start to an evening of terrible treats!

To make the baba ganoush, prick circa 3 aubergines with a fork and grill, until the skin is charred and the flesh beneath feels soft to the touch. As a guide, this takes around 20 minutes. Make sure to turn them periodically, so that they don’t over-cook on any one side.

Blitz x2 large cloves of garlic in a food-processor, then add the juice of one lemon, a teaspoon of tahini, olive oil, ground cumin and a generous whack of flat-leafed parsley. When this is smooth add your aubergine.

Slice the aubergines down the middle and scoop out the flesh into the food-processor. Pulse the mix, until you reach your desired texture. I like it nice and smooth, but you may prefer a chunkier texture. If so, just pulse it a little less.

A brilliant accompaniment to dip is celery-sticks, smoked sausages, crisp lettuce-leaves, radishes, purple-sprouting broccoli or even raw cauliflower.

This also works as a starter, serving one cauldron per person.

Thanks for reading, happy Halloween and bon ap!

Adam.