Escargot ala marinara et crouton
Hey All,
For the record, this dish is not intended to highlight the snail, rather disguise it.....which makes me sad, snail is very delicious enjoyed with a splash of garlic, onion, white wine, and butter.
So the title is some kind of italian and french.... I learned last year that the snails that grow native here are a highly prized hybrid in France. I harvested a metric buttload of these things, but never cooked, rather cleansed and froze them. The proper techniques for 'cleansing' of snails is outlined in detail online, the essence of the matter is to trap them and feed them a known foodstuff for 2 weeks, freeeze, and cook the lil' devils. The freezing is supposed to be more humane...honestly, I grew up hunting, fishing, killing, etc, so it really doesn't bother me and when they "moaned" I honestly kinda laughed. Last year I boiled them after 2 days in the fridge and they wriggled a bit in the water......
I just laid plans for a "snail trap", so figured its time to find out if these things are worth eating or if I should poison ruthlessely.
So here is my plan...I'll try and let you know the follow up:
I have 1/2 lb of escargot from last year's harvest,
1/2 lb frozen tomato (I'm sure 1/2 lb canned or fresh would work just as well) More is better if you want a more marinara type flavor
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 small to medium onion
chopped carrot (a handful of "baby" carrot in the food procesor should do it)
1/2 tsp fennel seed or 1/4 tsp ground (1/4 tsp ground will most likely result in a sausage flavor)
1/2 cup whiney stuffn (cooking sherry, distilled vinegar, red wine, to approximate some sort of winey thing...probably 1/3 each {Ideally I'd use white wine, of a hearty variety, but alas, all my cooking wine is gone and I only have mead left, and quite frankly, I'll be saving that for purposes other than cooking} A good lager should work, but all I have in the house is amber ale and whiskey.) Lager will impart a more "earthy" flavor. This equated to 2 Tblsp. each of sherry, vinegar, and wine.
1 discount caribe pepper, changing color to a rich yellow....scary to most folks, I buy these things all sorts of cheap at Smith's on the west side and love cooking with them. Actually the yellow pepper gives a sweeter flavor, much like red jalepenos if you've ever had the good fortune to experience them.
The carrots will be seared at high heat, no oil to blacken their exterior. Then add a swirl of Olive oil and the chopped caribe no seeds, most of the membrane removed onion and garlic, after the onion is slightly seared, reduce the heat and add the carrot.....if that doesn't make sense, lemme know, I recently learned that its the membrane that has the heat.
Then add the escargot/snail and gently cook....this will be at a higher heat, so lots of sizzle, maybe a pop...then reduce the heat.
Deglaze the pan with the sherry, vinegar, wine mixture, cover and cook until the carrots are tender.
Serve over homemade croutons or a tender (screw al dente it only pays your dentist) pasta......coutons are easy, query Food Network for directions....many are seasoned, but just a toss of the bread in hot oil will make them. A basil kick might be nice with this dish, but I think it will lose its distinction; maybe tarragon? French cooking is hard for me if its not in a pot.
If this comes out right, it will be like a true escargot sans the shell, requiring only a fork to enjoy!
Lotsa Love and ETA to follow,
Jacob
So now for the reality of how it went down.....and for those doubters, it is delicious...the snails give a "seafood touch", they could be a bit finer to distribute the flavor (read when I serve you a seafoood dish of sorts it may be snail), and the flavor is truly French, over a good lightly dried crouton this will be amazing, I had it straight out of the pan. Reminds me of a particular bistro, who's name escapes me at the moment, in San Diego (yes, I know, not the etpitome of french cuisine but the first time I really experienced it).
I added 1 small apple to the carrots. The carrot mixture was cooked on high until the edges were dark brown. The smell reminded me of overcooked acron squash, and the pan became super dark with carmalized sugars.
The caribe and onion were also chopped in the food processor.
Added to the pan onion, caribe, garlic, and fennel. Cooked until the onion clarified, some edges were very brown but not black.
Added the escargot, yes, we're still on high heat. Stirred in, and added the tomatoes with their juice. I let it sear down until the bottom of the pan "fried". I reduced the heat to medium and thought, "this would make one hell of a purreeed soup". I let the moisture dissapate and covered for 7 min (I needed a smoke break)... I returned the heat to high and added 2 tsp sugar, and salt and pepper to taste, light on the salt, per my taste, and heavy on the pepper, by my standard.
Immediately after mixing in the sugar, salt and pepper, I scooted it all to one side of the pan and patiently waited for the "smoke". Then, I dropped in the deglazing mixture....stirred furiously, turned off the heat, covered it and let it sit til tomorrows breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner :)
For the record, this dish is not intended to highlight the snail, rather disguise it.....which makes me sad, snail is very delicious enjoyed with a splash of garlic, onion, white wine, and butter.
So the title is some kind of italian and french.... I learned last year that the snails that grow native here are a highly prized hybrid in France. I harvested a metric buttload of these things, but never cooked, rather cleansed and froze them. The proper techniques for 'cleansing' of snails is outlined in detail online, the essence of the matter is to trap them and feed them a known foodstuff for 2 weeks, freeeze, and cook the lil' devils. The freezing is supposed to be more humane...honestly, I grew up hunting, fishing, killing, etc, so it really doesn't bother me and when they "moaned" I honestly kinda laughed. Last year I boiled them after 2 days in the fridge and they wriggled a bit in the water......
I just laid plans for a "snail trap", so figured its time to find out if these things are worth eating or if I should poison ruthlessely.
So here is my plan...I'll try and let you know the follow up:
I have 1/2 lb of escargot from last year's harvest,
1/2 lb frozen tomato (I'm sure 1/2 lb canned or fresh would work just as well) More is better if you want a more marinara type flavor
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 small to medium onion
chopped carrot (a handful of "baby" carrot in the food procesor should do it)
1/2 tsp fennel seed or 1/4 tsp ground (1/4 tsp ground will most likely result in a sausage flavor)
1/2 cup whiney stuffn (cooking sherry, distilled vinegar, red wine, to approximate some sort of winey thing...probably 1/3 each {Ideally I'd use white wine, of a hearty variety, but alas, all my cooking wine is gone and I only have mead left, and quite frankly, I'll be saving that for purposes other than cooking} A good lager should work, but all I have in the house is amber ale and whiskey.) Lager will impart a more "earthy" flavor. This equated to 2 Tblsp. each of sherry, vinegar, and wine.
1 discount caribe pepper, changing color to a rich yellow....scary to most folks, I buy these things all sorts of cheap at Smith's on the west side and love cooking with them. Actually the yellow pepper gives a sweeter flavor, much like red jalepenos if you've ever had the good fortune to experience them.
The carrots will be seared at high heat, no oil to blacken their exterior. Then add a swirl of Olive oil and the chopped caribe no seeds, most of the membrane removed onion and garlic, after the onion is slightly seared, reduce the heat and add the carrot.....if that doesn't make sense, lemme know, I recently learned that its the membrane that has the heat.
Then add the escargot/snail and gently cook....this will be at a higher heat, so lots of sizzle, maybe a pop...then reduce the heat.
Deglaze the pan with the sherry, vinegar, wine mixture, cover and cook until the carrots are tender.
Serve over homemade croutons or a tender (screw al dente it only pays your dentist) pasta......coutons are easy, query Food Network for directions....many are seasoned, but just a toss of the bread in hot oil will make them. A basil kick might be nice with this dish, but I think it will lose its distinction; maybe tarragon? French cooking is hard for me if its not in a pot.
If this comes out right, it will be like a true escargot sans the shell, requiring only a fork to enjoy!
Lotsa Love and ETA to follow,
Jacob
So now for the reality of how it went down.....and for those doubters, it is delicious...the snails give a "seafood touch", they could be a bit finer to distribute the flavor (read when I serve you a seafoood dish of sorts it may be snail), and the flavor is truly French, over a good lightly dried crouton this will be amazing, I had it straight out of the pan. Reminds me of a particular bistro, who's name escapes me at the moment, in San Diego (yes, I know, not the etpitome of french cuisine but the first time I really experienced it).
I added 1 small apple to the carrots. The carrot mixture was cooked on high until the edges were dark brown. The smell reminded me of overcooked acron squash, and the pan became super dark with carmalized sugars.
The caribe and onion were also chopped in the food processor.
Added to the pan onion, caribe, garlic, and fennel. Cooked until the onion clarified, some edges were very brown but not black.
Added the escargot, yes, we're still on high heat. Stirred in, and added the tomatoes with their juice. I let it sear down until the bottom of the pan "fried". I reduced the heat to medium and thought, "this would make one hell of a purreeed soup". I let the moisture dissapate and covered for 7 min (I needed a smoke break)... I returned the heat to high and added 2 tsp sugar, and salt and pepper to taste, light on the salt, per my taste, and heavy on the pepper, by my standard.
Immediately after mixing in the sugar, salt and pepper, I scooted it all to one side of the pan and patiently waited for the "smoke". Then, I dropped in the deglazing mixture....stirred furiously, turned off the heat, covered it and let it sit til tomorrows breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner :)