Trick Foods Recipes

TOPANGA HONEY ROLLED BAKLAVA

Steps:

• For the honey syrup: Combine the honey, granulated sugar, lemon juice, salt, sliced ginger, anise and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, for the baklava: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Brush 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter evenly all over a 9-by-9-inch baking pan.
• Melt the 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the panko and granulated sugar. Toast, stirring often, for a few minutes until slightly golden. Remove from the heat and transfer to a small bowl.
• Add the dates, raisins, brown sugar, orange blossom water, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt to a food processor and pulse until the dried fruit is finely chopped. Add the almonds and process again until just combined. Transfer to a clean work surface and roll into eight thin 10-inch-long logs.
• Lay one sheet of phyllo onto a clean surface and lightly brush with some of the remaining melted clarified butter. Lay a second sheet of phyllo directly on top of the first, brush with more clarified butter and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of the panko mixture. Fold the phyllo sheets in half crosswise; place one of the date logs at the short end of the sheets and begin to roll the dough over the date log, continuing until the entire phyllo sheet has been rolled. You will end up with a phyllo cigar.
• Transfer the cigar to the prepared baking pan and lay horizontally. Brush the top lengthwise with some of the remaining melted clarified butter and repeat the process with the remaining phyllo and date logs. You will need 8 cigars to fill the pan. Brush the baklava with some of the remaining clarified butter once again. Using a sharp knife, slice vertically down in three equal sections, creating twenty-four 3-inch pieces. Bake until the baklava are golden brown, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Baste the baklava with the remaining clarified butter at 30 and 45 minutes into the baking time. Rotate the pan 180 degrees halfway through the baking.
• Strain the solids from the honey syrup and discard. Pour the syrup over the hot baklava immediately after removing from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes to soak up all the syrup.

TRICK FOODS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook for 12 minutes.
• Drain the pasta, and put it in a large bowl. Add the salsa and toss to coat the spaghetti. Let come to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold.
• Cook's Note: Duff points out it doesn't look too bad, but when it's cold, it's going to feel like "blood and guts and snot and spit everywhere!"
• Peel the grapes and put them in a bowl. Pour in enough olive oil to coat the grapes and toss. Yuck!
• Cook's Note: Tips for peeling a grape: Grapes have a "natural hole." Start at the hole and peel off 1 side. Go all the way around and try to remove the peel in 4 pieces. If you're lucky, you can get it in 3 pieces. The reason to peel the grapes is to make the texture smooth and blemishless. This will make them feel more gross when they're covered in oil. With the skin off, grapes feel just like the surface of your eyeball.
• Drain the water from the tofu and put it into a bowl. Squeeze the tofu between your fingers to get it all mushy. Pour a little olive oil on top "for that extra ick effect." Crack 2 eggs on top of the icky tofu mess. Squeeze your fingers through it to mix the eggs and tofu together.
• Now it should totally gross people out!
• Cut the pumpkin seeds in half (Duff doesn't say which way, but he does say this is dangerous). MAKE SURE MOM OR DAD CUTS THE PUMPKIN SEEDS! THIS IS NOT A STEP FOR KIDS. Make a small slit at 1 end of each of the Vienna sausages. Stick a pumpkin seed into each slit so that it will feel like a fingernail.
• Arrange the severed fingers in a bowl. Spoon some slimy, gooey piping gel over the fingers. Pour on a healthy dash of olive oil. Very gently, use your fingers to coat the sausages in the oil and the gel so it feels like they're floating in "gooey, congealed blood."
• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.