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Okay I know what you are probably thinking: why would anyone eat this salad? It looks like dirt. Well, that’s exactly the point. Six Feet Under Salad is the next recipe on the cemetery picnic menu I created for this fall’s issue of Spooky Little Halloween magazine. It may look like dirt, but honestly this is one of the most delicious quinoa salads I’ve ever had. Toasted pine nuts adds a buttery nuttiness along with savory grilled onions and garlic with morsels of sweet cranberries and a spooky garnish of edible earthworms made from beets makes this salad disgustingly delicious. Enjoy!
Six Feet Under Salad
A disgustingly delicious salad that'll make your skin crawl. Red quinoa, grilled onions, garlic, pine nuts, cranberries and beet earthworms.
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RateServings: 6
Equipment
- silicone worm mold (From Stir at Joann's)
Ingredients
- 1 cup red quinoa, rinsed
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- pinch ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup pine nuts, toasted
- ½ cup cranberries
- 1 tsp. dried dill
- 1 tbsp. parsley,
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- Earthy Beet Worms, garnish (see below)
- crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Earthy Beet Worms
- ½ cup beet juice
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
Instructions
Earthy Worms (make ahead)
- Bloom gelatin in ½ cup of beet juice for 5 minutes. Heat in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds and stir to dissolve gelatin. Add more time if needed. Spray mold with cooking spray and fill with gelatin mixture. Allow to firm up at room temperature. Remove from mold and place in a plastic container and refrigerate until ready to eat.
Dirt Salad
- Put broth, rinsed quinoa and a pinch of cinnamon in a medium saucepan and heat until water begins to boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit covered for another 10 minutes to finish cooking. Fluff with fork and set aside to cool.
- Sauté onions in 1 tbsp. of olive oil until lightly browned, ~5 minutes. Add garlic and heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir the cooked onions and garlic into cooled quinoa. In the same skillet, add pine nuts and lightly toast (~2 minutes) over medium heat, stirring constantly to ensure they do not burn. Toss into quinoa and stir. Add cranberries, dill, parsley and salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve. Right before serving toss in earth worms and enjoy! Serve with crumbled feta.
