Cooking corner: Escargot on the go

David W. Cowles

Cooking corner

Are you repulsed by the little shelled creatures that crawl across your lawn or flowerbed, leaving a slimy trail in their wake? Do you regularly spread Snarol about your yard?

Surely, the snails you’ve been trying so hard to eradicate can’t be related in any way to that wonderful escargot that costs so much at your favorite restaurant, can they?

Well, yes, they can. The fact is, they’re one and the same. Try this simple but delicious recipe:

Melt butter and drop in the snails. Add lots of smooshed garlic, a little ground nutmeg, a pinch of thyme, some lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, as well as finely minced parsley.

Serve on toast points, or insert the snails in escargot shells (real or ceramic) or escargot dishes and accompany them with Italian or French bread in order to soak up the butter sauce.

You should be able to find escargot shells, dishes, snail tongs and snail forks at a gourmet shop locally. All of the items can be ordered online.

Escargot en Croute

BUTTER MIXTURE:

2 sticks (1 cup) sweet butter

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

8 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, chopped

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Pernod

2 anchovy fillets, minced

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

seasoned salt and seasoned pepper, to taste

SNAIL MIXTURE:

2 tablespoons sweet butter

36 snails, pre-cooked

1/4 cup diced onion

6 tablespoons dry white wine

6 puff pastry dough sheets (should be cut slightly larger than escargot dish)

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

BUTTER MIXTURE:

Whip butter in a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

SNAIL MIXTURE:

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet. Add the snails, onions and wine, and sauté until the liquid evaporates. Set aside and let cool.

Place one snail in each hole of escargot dish. Generously cover with butter mixture.

Place one sheet of puff pastry dough over each escargot dish. Trim the dough and seal around the edge of the dish.

Beat egg with water and use to brush the dough. Chill until it’s ready to bake, at least 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until the pastry rises and is golden, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Serves six.

OPTIONAL: Place a cooked artichoke bottom or mushroom cap beneath each snail (use an individual casserole dish instead of an escargot dish).

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT: Any unused butter mixture can be refrigerated as long as two weeks, or frozen for up to a year and used whenever garlic butter is needed.

Escargot a la Bourguignonne

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks (1 cup) sweet butter, softened

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, smooshed

2 tablespoons brandy

32 snails

32 snail shells (real or ceramic)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the butter, parsley, shallots, garlic and brandy in a bowl and blend well.

Place a snail in each shell and fill the cavity with the seasoned butter.

Place on a baking pan and bake for 12 minutes.

Serve hot, as an appetizer, on individual snail dishes or on small folded napkins on plates, in order to keep the shells from sliding about.

Serves eight.

Cooking Corner columnist David W. Cowles, the Fastest Chef in the West, can be reached by e-mail at dwcowles-gateway@comcast.net.