Halloween Rats Baked in Blood

Annacia's Note:

Wait till you tell the kids whats for dinner on Halloween! These are guaranteed to be the most delicious rats you’ll ever eaten. Serve on a bed of worms tossed with blood (spaghetti mixed with rat sauce) or simply place on a mound of mashed potatoes and prepare for a ghoulish feast... The "rats" are the first 9 ingredients, the remaining make up the "blood"

• Total Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
• ½ cup uncooked long grain white rice
• ½ medium onion , finely chopped
• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch black pepper
• uncooked spaghetti , broken into quarters
• thinly sliced raw carrot
• black peppercorns , cooked black beans
• 1 (19 ounce) can ground tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, rice, onion, egg and 1 teaspoons (5 mL) of the salt. Mix well.
2. Now make the rats. Using a measuring cup, scoop out 1/4 cup (50 mL) of the ground beef mixture. Form it, by hand, into a firmly packed teardrop shape — pointy on one end, rounded on the other. This is your basic rat. Place it into a 3-quart (3 liter) shallow baking dish and gently pinch in the neck area. Poke a piece of uncooked spaghetti into the larger rounded end as a tail. Repeat with the remaining ground beef mixture.
3. When all the rats are neatly placed in the baking dish, stir together the tomatoes, water, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, remaining 1 teaspoons (5 mL) of salt and 1/4 teaspoons (1 mL) pepper. Pour over the rats. Cover the dish with foil wrap (or a lid, if it has one) and bake at 350° F (180° C) for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, basting occasionally with sauce, or until the rice is tender and the rats are fully cooked.
4. Gently remove rats, one at a time, from the sauce and place gently on a serving platter. (Take care not to damage the tails — they’re fairly delicate.) Into each rat, insert two carrot slices as ears, peppercorns (or whatever) for eyes, and a few more broken strands of uncooked spaghetti for whiskers. Spoon sauce around the rats and serve, smiling wickedly.

Reviews

[Chef #1417882]

I made the mice with my own meatball recipe as I was making them anyway. I put them on top of my baked ziti that I took to a halloween engagement party.Very cute the only thing I changed was I used slivered almonds for the ears. Marg

[mommyoffour]

Oh my goodness, such fun!! I loved watching the kids faces on Halloween when I served this! HeeHee. I invited my SIL and nephew and they were open mouthed shocked!!!! So much fun. They are very good. I served broken up spaghetti with this and we LOVED it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe withus.

[Noo]

Oh...just too cute!!! My kids were SO excited about this, that I think that the entire school knew what they were having for dinner!!!
They both 'dissected' their rats with glee...pulling out the whiskers,ripping off ears etc,and it got even better after I informed them that the rice was actually maggots!!
A really fun filled meal that was really tasty too- by the way..leftover rats taste very good in sandwiches the next day!!
Thanks so much Annacia...can't wait for next year already!!!
Made for PRMR.