Escargot Forestiere

Don’t run away screaming from this recipe please.

I know that it’s snails.

We all know it’s snails.

Just stay for a while and read on, ok?

This delightful recipe was part of my class that I took on wild mushrooms in September. How can you hunt mushrooms and not make stuffed mushroom caps? I must admit that these are not the first thing I would think of when it comes to stuffed mushrooms and it’s not that I don’t enjoy escargot. I’ll eat just about anything that’s not an insect.

Or a frog. Ew. Sorry.

If you’re actually still reading this- bless your heart if you made it through the snail and frog talk- this is a lovely recipe to whip up for company who might live on the wild side. I find that most people are willing to try snails and indeed, I am sure that everyone in the class did eat some. More than some, if the person happened to be myself for I find this a delectable little dish that I actually enjoy for the taste, not just the thrill of eating Gastropoda.

You like how I threw that in? And you thought I was just all good looks. Go forth and talk about Gastropoda.

This is a large recipe for 8 with each person having their own escargot dish containing 6 snails. If you are wondering where to find escargot dishes, rumour has it they are readily available at dollar stores. I think it’s a worthwhile investment for dinner parties, that big ol’ 8 dollars because you can omit the snails if you must and simply serve a wonderful stuffed mushroom appetizer to each guest when you entertain.

Ingredients Needed:

 48 snails, canned
454 g of butter,softened
3 tbsp finely chopped chives
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
5-7 cloves of finely chopped garlic
4 tbsp fine bread crumbs
2 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp Pernod
48 mushroom caps
salt and pepper to taste

I spotted the cans of escargot awaiting us in the kitchen and cackled to myself, thinking of the reaction they were going to elicit from everyone. My classmates didn’t disappoint, either. Snails just tend to have that effect on people.

Time to get cooking!

Take your mushrooms, wash then remove the stems. Small ones that fit just so in the escargot dish are the size we are looking for. We used small white store bought mushrooms for these, as we didn’t have 48 mushroom caps of any one sort that we picked.

Take your wine and pernod and combine with the bread crumbs, about a tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper.

What is pernod you ask? A liquor similar to Ouzo and a successor of absinthe,very anise/black licorice tasting and smelling. A word on the wine as well, I have heard it many times before but our chef emphasized using only good wines in cooking. The qualities that make a wine poor or unpalatable are only going to be brought out even more by cooking with it. Use a wine you would drink and enjoy when you cook with it. Don’t ruin a great dish with crummy wine.

Add in the remaining ingredients, blend well and then refrigerate.

Crack open the can of snails and place one in each mushroom cap.

Top with a generous amount of the garlic butter mixture. Like I did. I almost overdid it.

Place under a broiler and cook “au gratin” until they are golden brown and heated through.

Wanna hear something gross? Wanna know how to tell that the snails are heated through?

They “pop”.

The entire cooking class all sat in utter silence listening to the salamander broiler…waiting….listening..until we started hearing POP! POP! POP! Just like popcorn.

And the snails were done.

Fascinating and gross at the same time.

Plate the escargot dish and serve to hungry guests. And cross your fingers.

I don’t believe I have ever written that before about a recipe, “cross your fingers”. I guess this is just one of those famous yet hit or miss dishes. Either a person can get over the whole “snail” bit and enjoy this amazing garlicky, buttery amazing goodness or they just won’t and that’s that.

Mmm. Garlic. Snails.

Love,

The I’ll Eat Gastopoda But Amphibians Make Me Scream Magpie