Eerily Delicious Halloween Dinner

Are you a brooding introvert who's awkward at parties? Don't have the energy to fight drunken traffic across town on Halloween night? Paranoid and agoraphobic, but still want to celebrate the holiday in your own way? Perhaps staying in and cooking up a festive and yet spooky Halloween dinner is the solution for you.

My mission was to create a menu that was Halloween themed and yet that didn't compromise on flavor pairings or overall quality. I didn't want to end up eating something I wouldn't otherwise care for just to suit the theme, and I wanted the presentation to err more on the side of artful and sculptural than gross.

MENU

Cocktail Hour

Zombie Elixir Garnished With Children's Eyes (lychee martini)
Giant Millipede (plumbs, figs, and cheese plate)

Dinner

Impaled Carcass (pork tenderloin garnished with parsnips)
Tentacles (fresh bread rolls)
Pile of Worms (caramelized onions)
Serpent Skeleton (roast sweet potatoes, baked apple with raisins)
Witch's Fingers (baby carrots)
Bile (sage cream sauce)
Sleeping Potion (pinot noir)

Dessert

Sludge (pumpkin Brandy Alexander)
Fresh Slaughter with Puss (chocolate pots de creme with whipped cream and caramel)

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Step 1: Appetizer: Giant Millipede

You can't really go wrong with fruit and cheese as an appetizer, so for this dish I chose an arrangement of figs, plums, almonds, and Spanish Manchego.

Ingredients

3 black plums
2 figs
4 almonds
3 raisins
1 small block of Manchego

The most recognizable and prominent part of a millipede is the glossy rounded exoskeleton so that was the most important part to get right, and it turns out that black plums are a surprisingly good visual match. To create the body first cut the plums in half and remove the pits. Cut each plum into .25" slices, discard the awkward end pieces, and arrange on a presentation dish in a sinuous shape. Place on plum piece on its side at one end of the body to create a platform for the head.

The eyes are created from skinned figs with raisins for pupils. I gave the millipede three eyes because with only two it looked more cute and doe-eyed than creepy. Take your figs and use a paring knife to cut off the purple outer skin to expose the pinkish flesh within. Arrange figs on the head platform and place raisins on top to create pupils. Use two almonds to create mandibles and complete the face.

Though it's not anatomically correct, I wanted to make millipede a little more hardcore by giving his tail end spikes. Cut wedges of cheese in spikey shape and wedge under the tail end plums to create the base. Top with slivered almonds to emphasize the feature.

I wanted a firm white cheese for the legs so I chose a brandy aged Manchego, a semi-firm Spanish sheep's milk cheese. To create the legs cut a thin slice off the block and cut into small rectangular slices. Arrange cheese along the sides of the body and adjust the look of the final product to a pleasing composition.