Escargot for Christmas.
Oh, no! not snails. Not those little slimy things that wiggle on the sidewalk that we use to pour salt on when we were kids. Ahh, yes.
Well, they are similar. The ones we prepared for Christmas dinner were Helix snails from France and were nice fat/plump ones. The ones that use to get salted are common brown garden snails and probably not enough meat to even get stuck between your teeth but still edible. Snails are low in fat except, of course, for all the butter you put on them before baking in the oven. This is only my third time making escargot and I think they get better each time I make them. (Don’t use jumbo ones though, that wasn’t my favorite.) I like them garlicky, buttery (of course) and the best crunchy bread I can find.
I first had escargot on a cruise years ago and I remember after eating them one night we ordered 2 orders each every meal for the rest of the cruise. I found my escargot on Amazon because they were much cheaper than the $7.50/can/dozen at my HEB market (and those were the jumbo ones). And I have already reordered them so I would have on hand for a last minute appetizer. They were $16 for 48 snails.
Sur la Table has some similar escargot dishes to the ones I bought from them years ago. And, Amazon has some pretty reasonable ones too. If you don’t want to buy dishes, I think you could just put all the snails in a small baking dish, add the butter and bake away.
You want some really good crispy/crunchy French bread to dip up all the melted garlic butter with after eating the escargot. Don’t leave any of that butter on the plate; it’s too good. I cannot wait to make these again. Maybe I’ll try on my bunco group.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Fried Avocado with Spicy Dipping Sauce with make you want to start frying some of your designated guacamole avocados.
Pretty simple ingredients.
Drop one snail each into the holes of your dish.
Mix the butter ingredients together.
Put a healthy amount of chilled butter on top of each snail. Then put in refrigerator until ready to bake.
Bake in oven until the top starts to brown and the butter is bubbling.
Make sure you sop up all that melted butter with your toasted bread.
Escargot in Parsley-Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 1 can 4 dz.Helix snails
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 1 shallot finely minced
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 Tbsp. finely minced Italian parsley
- 2 Tbsp. dry white wine or lemon juice
- 1/3 c. Italian parsley minced (for garnishing after baking)
- Toasted/crusty French bread or baguettes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the snails. Pat dry with paper towel and refrigerate until ready to use.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix the softened butter, shallot, garlic and the 2 tablespoons of minced Italian parsley and stir in the wine until everything is incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste. (I usually use salted butter so I don't add that much extra salt.)
- Put a snail into each crevice of the escargot dish and top with butter. Fill all dishes and any leftover butter go back and add extra to each dish. Refrigerate dishes until butter has firmed up again.
- When ready to bake set dishes on a sheet pan and bake at 450° for 4-6 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with the extra parsley and serve immediately with your crusty warm bread.
Recipe Notes
I like to start with two sticks of butter and up my other ingredients because I don't want to run short of butter and would rather have too much than not enough. You can always use that extra butter on the bread.
I didn't care for the lemon juice as much as the wine. If you don't have wine, I'd skip the lemon juice. (I got my second batch too lemony.)
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