Escargots, But Make It Pasta … Or Toast: Spilled Milk #137
Garlic-buttery goodness — with no tiny tongs or forks necessary.
Everyone loves escargots à la Bourguignonne: helix snails (the wild ones are predominantly from Burgundy) with butter, parsley and garlic. And even kids love it. Why? because it’s achingly delicious, the snails are briny, earthy as a forest floor and very sweet.
And there is garlic butter to dunk in too. Dunk bread, or just dunk your face — it’s that good, and we all know it. The vegetal bitter quality of the parsley transforms the garlic. It’s the perfect counterpoint, a softener, to the assertive allium.
Put the dish on any restaurant menu, and it’s having another renaissance as younger chefs are discovering the myriad ways to work with snails, and it’s always a very popular dish.
But here is the problem. Those little stainless steel or ceramic presentation plates only have six holes, and while many chefs place herbs and rock salt down in a small chafer, and then place the snails into shells with compound butter before baking, there are only so many you can fit. If the snails are stuffed into shells, you need those beautiful snail tongs and a snail fork to retrieve them. Total pain in the ass.
So why not solve all your problems by making this classic French dish, but sauté the snails and dress them over angel hair pasta? Or eat them as a tartine?
That’s how I do it at home — I started a few years ago and never looked back. BTW, my snail status is so legendary my friends gifted me with this amazing snail fork set one year ago as a gift. All of them are originals from master silversmiths, including Louis C Tiffany. One of the coolest things I own. I have big-time snail cred!
So here is the recipe:
I make the sauce and then toss it with angel hair pasta or serve it over toast. (Sometimes I do both.) Either way, you will be in garlic-butter heaven, and your family will thank you.
Make a compound butter with 2 sticks soft butter blended with minced shallots, garlic, herbs, lemon zest and some lemon juice.
Keep that in the fridge for many uses, from broiling fish to meats and veg, enriching sauces and so on. (Always keep compound butter on hand. It’s a life-saver.)
Make some parsley sauce by puréeing one stick of melted butter with two handfuls of parsley, some chopped scallion greens, four garlic cloves and a quarter cup of very hot white wine. I place the wine in the microwave — very easy that way. Set it aside.
Take a few tablespoons of the compound butter and cook the snails in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Use some pasta water or tap water if you need to loosen the mixture in your pan. (Water is your friend when you are cooking.)
When hot, I season the snails well and add about four tablespoons of parsley sauce. Swirl the pan to coat the snails and heat the sauce, you want to eliminate the hot raw garlic flavor and accentuate the sweet cooked garlic flavor while keeping the sauce nice and bright. Plate on toast or toss a portion of pasta in it or both. I usually count on 12 extra large snails per person. XLs are about 24 pieces per 8oz tin.
Escargots, but make it better. Words to live by.
I have had the good fortune to have been a travel agent for many years and specialized in cruising. The food has almost always been better than average but can't really remember much about any particular dish. Yes, there was mushroom soup which tasted like fresh mushrooms and sliced open crab legs for easy eating. But the one time a ordered 3 appetizers of snails was the one which I will never forget. My waiter snatched up my empty plates as soon as I scraped the last garlic bit from the shells ands replaced it with another piping hot dish. So I devoured 18 gorgeous snails while everyone else had their soup and salad courses. Would love to try them on pasta. Never thought of that. Thank you so much for who you are for the world, the joy you must feel feeding those really in need and traveling the world to share your fabulous mind. My complements to you... CHEF.
Where do you get the snails?