Some time recently I became curious about making escargots. Do you buy live snails I wondered? I remembered the escargots from the french restaurant I used to work at, and how they were served in a bubbling garlic, parsely butter that smelled amazing. Upon looking it up, I learned that you actually buy snails in cans (though you can cook them in their shell too - this is just the way most snails are sold). I also learned that all snails with shells are edible - just not the slug like things without a shell. So if you live somewhere where snails are plentiful, you can just go harvest your own after a rain storm (they will be much smaller and do require a "cleansing" step and some longer pre-cooking).
Anyway, I bought some snails at Coastal Seafoods - they were $5 for 2 dozen, though there was another kind that were $15 for 2 dozen (I have been trying to learn about escargots farming, and it seems that the practices are pretty sustainable just by nature of how snails live). I am not sure the difference between the two prices - I will ask next time. In any case, the cheaper ones were delicious. Having no fancy escargots dish, I made them in a muffin tin. I will totally make them again because they tasted so good.
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| Snails in an escargots dish - not muffin tin |
2 dozen snails
6 T butter
1 T minced onion
(garlic is de rigueur, but I skipped it)
1 T minced parsley
1 t lemon rind
1 t sea salt
fresh pepper
1. Mix everything but the snails together to form a buttery-paste. I used a large wooden spoon to spread the butter and get the herbs mixed in evenly.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Put 4 snails in each muffin cup, then divide the butter mix evenly between the 6 cups to top the snails. You want the snails to sort of marinate under the butter as it melts.
4. Put in oven until butter is bubbling - about 5 minutes.
5. Serve with rosemary almond crackers out of the tin, or you can pile them all in a bowl for a slightly more aesthetic experience. : )
*I was sad to leave any of the buttery goodness at the bottom of each muffin cup (usually french bread would dip this up), so I moved all remaining butter to 4 muffin cups and the next morning I cracked an egg into each one. I topped each egg with a splash of cream, and then baked them at 350 degrees until the yolk set. I didn't time them (and mine got a bit overdone) - but remove them when just set and still a little jiggly. Eat with any remaining crackers or a bit of ham or bacon. Yum!
Almond Rosemary Crackers (from Elena's Pantry)1 3/4 c almond flour
1/2 t sea salt
2 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 egg
1. Mix flour, salt and rosemary together - make sure almond flour is nut clumped up. (My rosemary is miraculously still doing just fine in its garden bed outside - it is a little green tree surrounded by snow!)
2. Whisk oil and egg in a small bowl, then add to almond flour mix and stir until combined. The mixture will be wet and quite thick.
3. Roll the dough into a ball and press it between two sheets of parchment paper (this is very useful - I am not sure you can get the crackers thin enough without the parchment without tearing things up). Roll to about 1/8" thick.
4. Remove top parchment layer and cut crackers with a pizza roller or knife into desired size. Transfer the bottom piece of parchment (with cracker dough) to a baking sheet, and bake 12-15 minutes at 350. Let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
*These are relatively unsalty. You may want to up the salt a bit, or sprinkle salt on before baking. I splurged and got a bit of Herring Roe to eat on these along with the snails - so they were perfect with the low salt crackers.
