[Vegan Snail Butter]
...Julia says
you can use this butter for snails, broiled meat and fish, for basting baked or broiled fish or mushrooms, for broiled mussels, clams, or oysters...
...it's a really simple recipe...the vegan escargot...not so much...well...easy...but pretty time consuming...
...so let's get started with the vegan butter...as Julia give no recipe for the actual cooking of snails...
...start with some shallots or green onions...and mince finely...and like we've done before...use a scrupulously clean kitchen towel...
...and twist the shallots in a ball to extract their juice...
...chop up some parsley...
...and mince some garlic...Julia suggests one to three cloves depending on your taste...
...add all that to the creamed vegan butter...and then add pepper...
...and salt to taste...
...and this is what Vegan Snail Butter looks like...and you're done with the recipe...if you don't care about using it for vegan snails...
Substitutions
...Vegan butter for the butter...I used Country Crock Plant Based Almond...
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 103)
...Now...on to the vegan snails...if you're interested...
...first of all I thought...what vegan thing in nature has a shell...we were just at the beach...and I thought about collecting empty shells...but then I thought...eeeuuuuwww...still not vegan...and not sure about whatever may still be lurking inside...so then I thought about those pecans we got at the beach...they have shells...
...so...
...the first thing I did was to throw the whole pecans in the pot...you know...to soften them up...and I have to say...don't bother...because they did not soften up...
...they did turn the water very brown...something to keep in mind for future craft dyeing...
...so like I said...not soft at all...I tried to cut an opening just using a serated knife...and while this would probably work...eventually...I'm not that patient...
...so...I got the Man's hack saw out...and had similar results...it is cutting the shell...but it's going to take a lot of work to get enough shells...
...thank goodness for power tools...right?...I got out the dremel tool and made short work of cutting the ends off of the shells...
...still full of nut innards though...
...then I just used a nut pick to clean out the insides...
...and I had a cute little bunch of empty vegan snail shells...
...so then...I didn't want the tanins in the shell (that produces that brown colour too) to make the vegan snails taste bitter or funny...so I put the empty shells in water and boiled them for a bit...the water got very dark...
...so I rinsed it out and boiled it again...and it was a little bit lighter...good thing I have a blog to document these things haha...
...again...and the water was a little bit lighter...but if you taste the water it does taste a little bitter...
...so boiled again...lighter...
...and again...lighter still...
...finally...I thought that it would be good enough...
...so I got out my smallest...cutest little cast iron frying pan...and baked them until they were nice and dry...
...sliced some baked tofu into slivers small enough to fit into the shells...
...and stuffed each shell with a tofu 'snail'...
...already they are so cute...
...packed it full of vegan snail butter (Vegan Beurre pour Escargots)...
...and put them all into the cast iron skillet...
...and just baked at 350° F...for about 20 minutes or so...until they were all sizzly and aromatic...
...now...never having eaten any snails in my entire life (even when I was in France)...I don't have any of the implements...but I made a cute little escargot holder/pliers thingy...just out of some silver wire...and I did already have the little tiny fork and spoon...
...they are so cute...
...so...I grabbed one of the shells with my little snail pincers...
...and pierced the little vegan snail with my little fork...
...and pulled it right out of the shell...
...oh my goodness...these little tidbits are so delicious...(of course what wouldn't be with that much butter and garlic...right?)...those little crunchy-transparent-caramelized bits are the BEST!...
...this was so much FUN!...a real treat...
That post just made me smile for some reason! They're just so darn cute I guess. Looks yummy (you're right about the fact that anything is good slathered in butter!) Love, K
ReplyDeleteMy Alabama grandmother had a pecan tree. We kids learned how to crack open the shells with a clean break by knowing just how to stamp on them with our shoes on. Care was required. If we stamped too hard or at the wrong angle, we had to pick out small pieces. I developed a love of pecans I still have 70 years later. I was thrilled when I finally found a recipe for vegan pecan pie. (Hint tofu does NOT work--Bob's Red Mill egg replacer does.
ReplyDeleteHi Nonna,
ReplyDelete...That's a neat memory...and I wish I had that skill...one of our parishioners who regularly gives us whole already shelled pecans has some sort of fancy sheller that does that so the halves come out perfectly...and thanks for the hint about the pie...I'll be making pecan pies for Christmas!
~Have a lovely day!