Gratinated Escargots in Marble Potato
Snails or escargots are the sort of delicacy people either love, crave for and adore or simply do not like and are quite appalled by it.
In any case, the snails one usually buys come in a tin or jar and are already washed, purged and ready for the final cooking. I like to sauté the snails and flavor them with a little pastis or Ricard before baking them with the butter.
When it comes to escargots, the butter is the most important ingredient, as the snails itself are rather bland and tasteless. There are great variations of this classic French dish, with reduced red wine, creamy French cheese like brie or Roquefort cheese, with curry and many more.
Enjoy!
Gratinated Escargots in Marble Potato
Snails can be prepared with or without their shells. However, they don’t have a strong taste which is why they’re typically cooked with a buttery sauce that may include a glug or two of wine.
Ingredients
- 12 escargots drained, washed
- 12 marble potatoes cooked al dente
- 10 grams shallots finely diced
- 5 grams garlic clove finely chopped
- 10 milliliters Pernod alternatively Ricard or Pastis
- 10 milliliters white wine dry
- 20 milliliters olive oil virgin
- pepper from the mill
- sea salt flakes
Escargot Butter – Yields 2 Cups:
- 240 grams butter soft
- 1 egg yolk
- 15 grams garlic clove finely chopped
- 6 grams chives finely chopped
- 30 grams shallots finely chopped
Instructions
- Cut the bottom and top part of the potatoes off. With a potato baler scoop out a sizable hole into the one side of the potato. Set aside in a buttered oven proof dish.
- For the butter, whisk the soft butter slightly foamy, add all the ingredients and season to taste
- Saute the chopped garlic and shallots in virgin olive oil, add the snails, season them with salt and pepper and flambe the snails with the Pernod.
- Add the white wine and simmer for just a minute while reducing the the liquid until it just coats the snails. Remove from the pan and place the snail into the prepared new potatoes. Moisten with the liquid remaining in the pan.
- Cover snail with a generous dollop of the butter and bake in the oven, by 220° C/ 430° F until well gratinated and heated through. Serve at once.
Notes
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