Escargot on Toast

In the 1970s, home cooks were encouraged to bring fine French cuisine right to their dinner tables. Using specialized bakeware, they could make popular restaurant-quality dishes such as escargot from the comfort of their own kitchen.

Dave and Melanie Carlson were shocked when they found out they’d be cooking snails. Eldest daughter Lauren surprised everyone when she thoroughly enjoyed the meal, finishing every last buttery bite.

Ingredients

• 6 fillets of anchovy
• 7 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 3 dozen snails with shells
• 1 loaf of French bread

Special materials required:

• Escargot dishes
• Escargot forks
• Snail clamps

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Butter mixture

Add anchovies, garlic, parsley and pine nuts to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add white wine, butter, cayenne pepper, white pepper and salt. Mix well.

Assembly

Remove snails from shells using small escargot forks. Insert about 1/2 tsp of butter mixture into snail shell. Stuff snail back into shell and add another small amount of butter mixture. Continue until all snails are filled up, placing on snail plates as you go.

 Serves 5 as a main dish