Our favorite April Fools Day food tricks are more nice than naughty - the classic idea of serving foods that look like other foods. You've probably seen the meatloaf "iced" with mashed potatoes to look like a cake. Maybe you've even seen mashed potatoes and gravy in a parfait glass, mounded up to look like a butterscotch sundae.
This year, we were looking for a new trick to truly fool our favorite people. Did we fool you? Did you think that's a bowl of cereal and milk in the photo?
It's really cauliflower soup with garam masala-spiced toasted-Os cereal!
We found this pseudo-Indian recipe on the website of the Surreal Gourmet, and were surprised to find out it's not just a good trick; it's pretty tasty too. We're snacking on the leftover spicy cereal as we speak.
The recipe calls for you to first melt butter in a pan, with a tablespoon of garam masala, or mixed Indian spices. (Check out our recipe for homemade garam masala.) After stirring in a cupful of the cereal, you bake the whole lot in the oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, you simmer chopped cauliflower and onion in cream or milk, until the cauliflower is tender. You puree the cauliflower mixture, then serve with plenty of the cereal on top.
This makes a perfectly white soup, but it was a bit mild for our tastes. We recommend adding some coconut milk, and perhaps leeks to the base. We considered adding spices, but that would ruin the nice contrast between the soup and the spicy cereal.
We love the idea of saying to the spouse or the roommate, "I'm tired. We're just having cereal for dinner tonight," then watching their face and they realize they've been tricked!
Some other April Fools Day recipes:
• Cooking Village has a recipe for that meatloaf "cake", and four other ideas.
• All Recipes suggests rolling balls of ice cream in cocoa to make them look like baked potatoes. They also have another version of a trick cake - spaghetti baked in a springform pan, then covered in ricotta.
• Family Fun has a host of different recipes, including a dessert that looks just like Chicken Pot Pie.
What are you doing for April Fools Day?
Images: Bowl of Cereal by Nina Callaway for The Kitchn; Cake from Cooking Village.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
It's my birthday!!! So far, in my 25 years no one has given me any of this tricky food. But if they did, I'd love it! :)
view STLcolleen's profile
i do not like any jokes or trick involving food or waisting food. I have too much of respect for it.
view Astrid Vladi's profile
No wasting food here Astrid - this is a nice bowl of soup to enjoy!
We are also working on wasting less food - see our post from the other day: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/conscientious-cook/tips-and-tricks-how-to-avoid-wasting-food-046510
view NinaC's profile
When I was a kid I would have loved that mashed potato meatloaf cake. That was one of my favorite meals.
view SleepyDweller's profile
I got it. it's a wholesome cooked dish. but the reaction of unsuspected victim could be so averse. I love mashed potatoes at any times, form and dish, but if t was presented to me as a creamy frosting on the cake, i might spit it out and toss whole thing into garbage. Those kind of tricks are not my taste anyhow. BTW, about yesterday post on not waisting food. I was surprised to not see more recipes on converting stale bread into bread pudding or spicy strata for example. There are great recipes in every culture -"peasant cooking" and family pass-down sources of saving what can be saved. Anyone?
view Astrid Vladi's profile
Lighten up ASTRID!
view hdtex's profile
to hdtex-
is it a command? an advise? expression of your own inability to allow different point of view? bullying? are you suffering from something?
view Astrid Vladi's profile
that soup and cheerios looks scrumptious!!
I'll be making my mini meatloaf cupcakes for a potluck on Sunday! We may attempt to make cupcake "wrappers" from melted parmesan cheese cups...we'll see how ambitious we are feeling...
view ironstef's profile
What about stomaching food? If you don't like waisting it, I mean. ;)
view Panky Snow's profile
There were some "rumples" in the milk, so I thought it would be very pale pudding.
I appreciate the wit and whimsy of these types of jokes, and if it happened to me, I'd crack up!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
i have a lifelong hatred for cauliflower, so i would not be so happy with this particular prank. though, truth be told, i would forgive almost anything served to me in a mets bowl.
view rhubarb13's profile
all of these things seem to be delicious ideas. a jerkier plan: the last restaurant i worked at we would take the used coffee grounds and form it into the shape of a cake and put whipped cream and cherries on top for all of our newbies to have a bite. luckily i had a friend who worked there before me so i wasn't able to be initiated in this way. you have to move some of it around and put a fork in it so it looks like someone already ate some of it. once it hits the mouth.... priceless.
view klisty's profile
I of course made my special "treats" this again this year
view Sarahj's profile
Oh, Astrid. Turn that frown upside down! No need for a grumpy attitude on April Fools day. Why so critical?
view Vanilla Beans's profile