Lobster and Shrimp and Snails Oh My!

Ooh la la! Until we meet again!

After my French dinner party last week I knew I had to post one of the recipes and the escargot was the easiest thing on the menu. 

The first snail that I ever ate was on a cruise that started in Amsterdam and made it’s way to France, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, and Gibraltar. On this cruise I tasted my first escargot and my first really good paté (now, my son Paul’s paté is the best ever). And, at every stop we tried all the local cuisines. After that first taste of escargot and paté, we ordered both every night for the rest of the cruise.

Fast forward many years and I’ve made escargot several times. We made it once for a Michie French Family Feast and several other times when I could find the snails. Along the way, I have learned to buy my French snails from Amazon. Typically escargot is baked and served with French bread to sop up all the garlicky butter. (Papa G hates the word sop, but that is what you do if you want a good bite.)

I decided to use puffed pastry dots on top since a friend told me once about a restaurant in Houston that serves their escargot this way. I’m glad I tried it because  I liked it and would probably try both ways again. I did pre-bake my puffed pastry dots because I knew they were going to take 15-20 minutes to brown. The last couple of minutes of baking the dishes, I set the baked puffed pieces on top of each well to warm for the last few minutes and soak up some of that delicious butter.

If you don’t think you will like snails (and I think you will) just try the shrimp and lobster. I thought I was going to have to buy lobster tails but I ended up finding lobster meat in the freezer section. I only used half a package of the lobster and have plans for some lobster bisque soon.

Give me a yell in the comment section if you try this recipe.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: This Cheesy Bacon Toast recipe is one of the first appetizers I made as a newlywed. You can either use melba crackers for the base or try some thinly sliced baguettes.

I have lobster pieces, shrimp (both cooked) and of course snails I bought on Amazon. The garlicky butter and wine awaits the dishes.

I put a drizzle of white wine in the bottoms of each dish. I only had 7 of these and my 8th dish is shaped liked an artist palette so the one friend who is an artist got that special escargot dish.

Six of the dishes I put lobster, shrimp and snails and the remaining two dishes only shrimp and lobster.

Press 1-2 tsp. of garlicky butter on top of snails/lobster/shrimp. I love the artist pallet dish.

Right out of the oven and ready to serve.

Still plenty of butter to sop up; so I had extra baked puff pastry circles that were passed just in case anyone needed more.