Escargot Vol-Au Vent
By: BJ Graham
Published: Monday, December 21, 2009 - 1:21pm

Ingredients




For the herb butter-

4 to 5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup finely minced Italian parsley
1/2 cup finely minced chives
2 tablespoons minced shallots
Pinch of freshly grated black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Pernod
24 “very large” top-quality canned snails, drained
1 inch sheet puff pastry, homemade or store-bought.  You can also buy pre-made puff pastry

Preparation

1 Directions 2 Mince the garlic and salt together and crush with the blade of a knife to make a paste. Put the butter in a large bowl (or the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), add the garlic paste, and cream together. 3 Add the parsley, chives, shallots, pepper, lemon juice, and Pernod and mix well. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to make certain the ingredients are distributed throughout the butter. 4 The butter can be piped or spooned over the snails — if desired, transfer it to a pastry bag without a tip or with a large plain tip. If using snail dishes instead of snail shells, place a snail in each indentation and pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons of butter over each. If using snail shells, place a snail in each shell and pipe in about 2 teaspoons of butter. 5 Refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 12 hours. (Any extra herb butter is wonderful melted over meats or fish.  This is so good, I may actually keep some in the fridge for anytime I am cooking meat or veggies or….) 6 Direction for cooking escargot in puff pastry: 7 Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). With a round cutter that is about 1/4 inch larger in diameter than the indentations in the snail dishes, cut 24 rounds from the puff pastry.  I used my star cookie cutter and an aperitif glass.

About


This is a very good and suprisingly easy recipe to prepare.  Any left over butter can be used on any kind of meat or fish.