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I read somewhere that Michael Keaton ad libbed 90% of his lines as Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice. That’s insane to me, because I consider it to be one of his best performances (it’s also his favorite role). And, the movie itself is still one of the funniest dark comedies I’ve seen. Morbid and scary, yes– but disgustingly hilarious.
For those of you unfamiliar with Beetlejuice, a) I lament your youth, and b) know that this is one of director Tim Burton’s first big films before he became a franchise unto himself. The plot follows a young husband and wife trying to acclimate to their status as (SPOILER) “recently deceased”, while an obnoxious New York couple and melancholy daughter move into their bucolic home. Enter Betelgeuse– a demented, perverted, and delightfully mischievous ghost who promises to help evict the New Yorkers but is secretly hellbent on “exorcizing the living” en masse. Ghoulish shenanigans ensue.
Fans of Burton will notice that his trademark aesthetic is in full force in Beetlejuice– and what better way to heighten the absurdity of ghosts and the afterlife than by using a cartoony color palette, abstract art, and schlocky stop-motion sandworms from Saturn? Visual parallels to Burton’s other movies (Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas) abound, and rewatching it now I feel like I’m discovering strategically placed Easter eggs.
And just a quick love letter to some of the cast. Obviously there’s Keaton in the title role, but there’s Catherine O’Hara (flaky Delia Deetz is like a young Moira Rose amiright?), studly Alec Baldwin, sickly sweet Geena Davis, and lastly 16-yr old Winona Ryder– a late 80’s/90’s film and fashion darling who became my teenage hero. Clearly I, too, considered myself strange and unusual (though I didn’t do goth nearly as well as Lydia Deetz).
So, here is a finger food menu for Beetlejuice that may or may not gross you out while you eat it. But hey, appropriate right? Now let’s all turn on some Harry Belafonte and say it together– Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, BEETLEJUICE.
The Movie
The Menu
Beet-lejuice Moradita
Yield: 1 cocktail
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
This "little death" margarita-adjacent cocktail features what some might consider a slightly off-putting key ingredient (though it's delicious, I promise!)-- perfect for the Ghost with the Most. Let's turn on the juice and see what shakes loose!
Ingredients
1 shot Tequila
1/2 shot Lime juice
1/2 shot Triple Sec
1 shot Beet Juice
Pinch Cayenne
Kosher Salt and Lime Wedge for Rim
Instructions
Using your lime wedge, moisten the rim of your glass. Scatter kosher salt on a plate, and place the glass in the salt, turning gently to collect as much as possible.
Then, add remaining ingredients to glass and add ice!
Notes
Guys, the Moradita cocktail was invented at Gotham Bar in NYC. Burton/Batman, the connections are too good!
Cantonese Chili Wings
Yield: 2 Servings (app 6 wings)
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
The Deetzes love their Chinese takeout. Sorry though, Delia-- I'm serving up Cantonese instead of Sichuan in a dish that pays (morbid?) homage to Charles's bird watching hobby. Wing anyone?
Ingredients
1/2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 1/2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Shaoxing Wine
1 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Chili Oil
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 tsp Ginger, grated
1/4 tsp Five Spice Powder
1 1/2 lb Chicken Wings (Full batwings if you can find them)
1 tbsp Sliced Scallion Greens (refer to Calypso recipe)
Instructions
Assemble your marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix thouroughly until brown sugar dissolved.
Pour into a ziploc bag and add your chicken wings-- seal tightly and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat your oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spritz with canola oil-- be careful to lift the edges of foil to create a "rim", otherwise, your sauce will spread and bake into the baking sheet and it'll be a whole 'nother level of mess.
Remove wings from the marinade, reserving the rest of the sauce for basting. Bake for roughly 35-40 minutes, turning twice ten minutes in and then twenty minutes in. Your wing exterior should be crisp and bubbly by this time, but if you like a bit of extra char, you can broil them for another minute (just keep an eye or they will burn!).
Finish with a sprinkling of sliced scallions and devour.
Notes
If you are not good with spice, feel free to half the amount of chili oil. These wings can be served at room temperature-- just wrap them in aluminum foil and keep them warm until ready to eat.
1 Bell Pepper (Red, Yellow, or Orange. I had a red orange pepper. It's like I won some kind of lottery)
1 Habanero Pepper
2 Scallions, chopped (White parts only, about 2 tbsp. Keep the green bits though for garnish on your wings!)
1 Large Garlic Clove
1/8 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Honey
1/3 cup Cilantro Leaves
1/2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 1/2 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
1 tsp Soy Sauce
FOR THE SHRIMP
1/4 cup Orange Juice
½ tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Lime Juice (fresh, about 2 limes)
1 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tbsp Light Rum
1/2 tbsp Triple Sec
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Curry Powder
1/8 tsp Ginger Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/8 Red Pepper Flakes
Pinch of allspice
10-12 Large Shrimp, tail on
Instructions
Let's start with your Calypso sauce! Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Cut your bell pepper into 1-inch chunks-- you should end up with about a cup and a half of bell pepper. Then, cut your habanero pepper in half. PRO TIP: wear gloves and/or use a sharp knife to remove the white pith and seeds. Otherwise your fingers will be on fire for a number of hours and you'll go through an inordinate amount of baking soda and milk to repair the damage.
Toss your bell pepper and habanero with a bit of canola oil and salt and pepper on a foil lined tray. Roast until slightly charred and softened, about 20 minutes.
Next, assemble the remaining sauce ingredients: cumin, ginger, scallion, garlic, lime, cilantro, oil, soy sauce, and honey.
In a small immersion blender, mix all ingredients together into a rough puree-- add a splash of water to help loosen the ingredients. You should end up with a spicy (depending on your habanero selection) red pepper salsa that'll make you sing DAAAAAAAAY-O. Divide your Calypso sauce into two small-ish bowls and store, covered, at room temperature until ready to serve (but no longer than a couple of hours).
Now it's time to assemble your marinade. Mix all remaining ingredients excluding the shrimp-- set aside until 10 minutes prior to cooking shrimp.
In the meantime, pat your shrimp dry. If you are super investing in preventing shrimp curl whilst these little dudes cook, utilize this technique. Marinate for about 10 minutes, but no longer or the acids in the sauce will begin to cook the shrimp.
Heat a griddle pan to medium high. Remove shrimp from the marinade and place them immediately on the pan, cooking for about 1 minute per side.
Remove from heat, and set gently into bowls containing your Calypso sauce, tails outward. Consume rapidly before they ATTACK.
Spinach Artichoke "Fingers"
Yield: 2 Servings (6 fingers)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ok it's a little Halloween-y but you know that scene where Beetlejuice pulls a bloated, severed finger out of his pocket right after you see two corpses slowly crumbling to dust? I dunno, something about it made me crave gooey pale green stuffed phyllo fingers.
What?
Ingredients
¼ cup Minced Onion
1 small Garlic Clove, minced
Olive Oil Spray
1/2 cup Cooked Spinach, drained
1/4 cup Canned Artichoke Hearts, drained and roughly chopped
¼ cup Cream Cheese
¼ cup Grated Parmesan
1/8 cup Grated Mozzarella
1/8 cup Half and Half
Salt & Pepper
1/3 box Phyllo Dough
6 Slivers of Scallion Greens, sliced lengthwise into "strings"
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400, and assemble your ingredients!
In a sautee pan, lightly caramelize onions and garlic in a spritz of olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
In a small mixing bowl, combine onions, garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, and dairy until fully incorporated.
Unfurl your phyllo dough and separate five sheets from the pack, keeping them together. Cut these sheet batches in half, creating roughly 6x6 inch squares. Llightly brush in between each layer to help the sheet squares stick together.
Using a spoon, dish out 1/4 cup of the spinach/artichoke mixture onto the phyllo (see below for placement).
Wrap the spinach artichoke mixture inside the phyllo like a burrito-- fold the tops and bottoms in toward the center, and then roll horizontally into a tight cigar/finger shape. Spray with additional oil to prevent each "finger" from drying out while you repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for roughly 25-30 minutes until phyllo crust is golden brown. Allow to cool for five minutes before handling.
Carefully tie your scallion slivers close to the bottom of each "finger", being careful not to tie tightly or the phyllo will crumble more than the Maitlands-- the scallions aren't imperative, but they do help the fingers hold their shape and add a little "bling", so to speak.
Black & White Zagnut Cookies
Yield: 6 Cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours30 minutes
From black and white flannel, to black and white striped outfits, to black and white striped snakes/worms-- the contrasting color scheme is quintessentially Tim Burton and all over this movie. So here is a black and white cookie that the Deetzes might have loved (being from NYC), but for the fact that the base cookie itself is inspired by Beetlejuice's favorite Zagnut candy bar. Peanut butter, coconut, and chocolate, oh my!
Ingredients
¼ cup Peanut Butter
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
¼ cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Kosher Salt
¼ cup Coconut Flour
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
2 tbsp Whole Milk, plus a splash
1/4 tbsp Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch Salt
1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (recognize a pattern here? You can make allll this food at the same temp YAY CONVENIENCE!). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (sil pad).
Next, add peanut butter, coconut oil, egg, vanilla, and sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Using a hand beater (or a stand mixer if you're feeling ambitious), combine until smooth.
Add your flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a fork to combine until a dough forms.
Using a spoon, drop 1 1/2 inch balls onto a cookie sheet and press into 1/2 inch thick cookie shapes (these cookies don't spread when they bake). You should end up with half a dozen cookies, about 3 inches in diameter.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies turn barely golden brown at the edges and feel lightly dry. They will be very soft. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Meanwhile, make your icing-- combine confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp milk, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and whisk until smooth. Your icing should still be opaque, but should not be as thick as toothpaste. If need be, add or subtract powdered sugar and/or milk to get the right consistency (be aware humidity can have a big impact). Pour half of your icing into another bowl, and add your cocoa powder and another splash of milk. Stir full to create your dark chocolate icing.
Using the back of a spoon. spread half of each cookie with white icing. Place on a parchment paper line plate and refrigerate for about an hour until set.
Repeat on the other half of your cookie with dark icing, allowing for another hour to set.
Served chilled, and beware of sandworms!
Epilogue
Will the long awaited Beetlejuice 2 ever happen? Only time will tell, and we may be all serving as civil servants in the afterlife by then (especially given how 2020 has been going/went).
In the meantime tho, for the true fans, come relive childhood with me and watch the opening for the late 80s Beetlejuice animated series:
Fantasy films from the 1980’s are my favorites of all the films. I’ve always preferred them to modern fantasy movies– partly because the tangible, practical effects made the magic feel that much more real and authentic. But I also think the camp inherent in some …