Snail Tartlets Recipes

DANISH SNAILS

Steps:

• Place sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
• On a lightly floured work surface roll out dough 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Brush surface all over with egg. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture in an even layer to cover. Any remaining cinnamon sugar may be reserved for another use. Fold dough in half lengthwise to enclose cinnamon sugar. Trim edges, discarding scraps. Cut lengthwise strips 3/4-inch-wide. Twist each strip and roll into a spiral. Let rest in a warm place until dough is doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Fill the center of each spiral with a small dollop of apricot jam. Brush dough with the remaining beaten egg. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until pastries are evenly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature. Snails are best eaten the same day they are made.

ESCARGOT VOL-AU-VENT. GARLIC BUTTER SNAILS IN MINI VOL-AU-VENTS

Steps:

• 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.
• Add the parsley, chives, shallots, pepper, lemon juice, and Pernod or Pastis and mix well. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to make certain the ingredients are distributed throughout the butter.
• Refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 12 hours. (Any extra herb butter is wonderful melted over meats or fish.).
• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). With a small 1/4 inch round biscuit/cookie cutter, cut 24 rounds from the puff pastry and then run a knife around inside the pastry disc leaving a narrow rim - this will be your lid later!. Arrange the puff pastry rounds on the baking sheet. Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and well risen. Remove from the oven and let them cool slightly.Remove the inner pre-scored "lid" and hollow out the middle a little to make a hole for the snail and butter later!
• If using ready-made vol-au-vent cases, arrange them on a well greased baking tray and add the snails as below now.
• Place or gently push a snail in to each of the cooked vol-au-vent cases and top with garlic butter, 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. Re-heat them in a pre-heated oven, 450°F (230°C), for about 2 to 5 minutes on a LOW shelf, and keep checking that the pastry is not browning too quickly - what you are looking for is BUBBLING melted butter and NOT burnt pastry!
• Remove them as soon as the butter has melted and serve straight away with a shot of Pastis and lots of paper napkins! (If you have any lids, top the buttered snails with a little pastry lid.).

SNAIL TARTLETS

Steps:

• Drain and rinse snails. Place in a saucepan with wine, water, onion, peppercorns, bay leaf and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Set aside to cool in the broth.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Combine flour and one teaspoon salt in a bowl or in the work bowl of a food processor. Mix with a fork or by turning the machine on and off once or twice.
• Add all but two tablespoons of the butter in small pats and blend, using a pastry blender, a fork or two knives, or by using a pulse mechanism of a food processor, until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the ice water a little at a time, mixing lightly until a ball of dough can be formed. With a food processor, add the water through the feed tube. You may need less water if you use a food processor.
• Roll out the dough and cut three-inch circles to fit tiny tartlet tins, each about one-and-three-fourths inches in diameter. Tuck pastry into the molds, prick the bottoms, then bake for about six minutes, until the pastry looks dry but has not colored. Remove pastry from oven.
• Drain snails. If they are very large, coarsely dice them.
• Melt remaining two tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add the garlic and saute over low heat until the garlic is tender but not brown.
• Add the snails and cream and cook, stirring for a few minutes. Stir in parsely and season to taste with salt. Remove from heat and stir in the milk.
• Beat the eggs. Stir into the snail mixture. Spoon this mixture into the tartlet pans, distributing the pieces of snail evenly among them.
• Place in the oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake about 20 minutes until lighly browned.
• Cool briefly then serve or prepare in advance and reheat for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven before serving.