Escargot in a Pesto Beurre Blanc

Another Night of, “What’s On The Shelf?”

Had nothing planned for dinner, so I was forced to take inventory. Inventory of the shelves, cabinets and freezer. I did not search the back of the refrigerator as I figured anything that was hidden back there would be good for another 6 month.

The inventory process serves multiple functions. First you figure out what you’re going to eat, it forces you to be creative and it clears the shelf of stuff you’ll actually use before the expiration date.

In the freezer were 3 half-pints ball jars if of pesto that I put up in early September. I think this was one of the best batches I’ve made. We have sometimes made a dinner of Pesto on gluten free crackers along with 2 tins of smoked oysters. Wash it down with a nice Prosecco.

This night I knew I would use the pesto. I had some corn and quinoa elbow pasta that had been opened and needed to be used. Although pasta with pesto is pleasing is pedestrian, it’s short of a meal.

Then I saw them, peaking out from behind a large bag of non GMO blue corn chips, 2 cans of escargot. Quick, check the date. Had 7 months to go. Hey, if you are squeamish about eating snails, the recipe that follows will work great with chicken or shrimp.

I’ll try to recreate what I did in this post but I can’t be 100% sure. No cameras were rolling as wasn’t planning anything.

Put a pot of water on to boil. When the water comes to a boil go ahead and cook whatever pasta you’re going to use according to the package directions. Strain the pasta but reserve the pasta liquid. This is when it’s nice to have one of those pasta cookers, tall pot with a colander that fits into the pot. Pull the pasta out and the liquid is left in tact.

While waiting for the water to boil start preparing your sauce.

I finely chopped a medium onion and sautéed them until sweet and golden brown in a sauté pan. With the burner now on high add a ½ cup of dry white wine. I used vermouth. It boiled away and was absorbed quickly. Turning the burner down to medium low I threw in a pad of butter mixing that into the onions. When it was gone I added another Tablespoon. It was taking on the consistency of a beurre blanc. Of course with a beurre blanc you would use shallots. Alas, there was none on the shelf.

Escargot cry out for garlic butter but there wasn’t an un-sprouted garlic clove in the house. This use to be major faux pas, one does not run out of onions or garlic. But now I’ve discovered garlic powder. Not garlic salt or granulated garlic, this is a fine powder that floats into your sauces and dissolves into any warm liquid or fat. The best I’ve found is the 365 Brand from Whole Foods. Ingredients: organic garlic.

As the butter is slowly being absorbed I sprinkle on of the garlic powder and stir the pan. Then another pad of butter and two cans of escargot. You could easily use one depending on how many snails you want per person.   Cook everything on a medium low heat for about 10 minutes. During this time you can add a ¼ cup of the pasta water to the pan stirring that in. Then add some more butter and a little more pasta water. I did this as I played with the consistency. I had me a pretty nice emulsified sauce going here and it smelled divine.

Careful not to add too much I sprinkled in a small amount of salt. It should taste like, “It needs a little more salt.” But before adding any more salt, I added two heaping tablespoons of the pesto and folded it in with all the ingredients. The aroma was immense. Now you can taste and adjust if it still, “needs a little salt.” I added the pesto last as the parmesan cheese in the pesto will burn on the bottom of the pan.

Now fold in the cooked drained pasta coating it with the sauce. If you have any freshly grated parmesan put it in a ramekin and pass it at the table.

That’s it a gourmet meal from stuff I found laying around.

Ciao For Now
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