Escargot Rockefeller (Snails in Butter and Garlic with Cilantro Jalapeno Sauce ~ Escargots Sur un Champ Vert)
Serves 6 (for 8 persons, you might double the recipe, if you want more than a few snails each.) Yes, these are snails, but not your garden variety, they are lobster-like delicacies and most are imported from France, such as the wild ones from Burgundy. You can order them off www.amazon.com or at www.igourmet.com or, if in Denver, from Tony’s Meat Market or Whole Foods.
Wikipedia reports, “Oysters Rockefeller was created at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine’s. Antoine’s was founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, who moved to New Orleans after two frustrating years in New York trying to open a restaurant of his own. The dish was created in 1899 by Jules Alciatore, son of the restaurant’s founder. The dish was named oysters Rockefeller after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American at the time, for the intense richness of the sauce. Though the original recipe remains a secret, the sauce is known to be a purée of a number of green vegetables other than spinach. It consists of oysters on the half-shell topped with the sauce and bread crumbs and then baked. Jules Alciatore developed oysters Rockefeller in the face of a shortage of French snails, substituting the locally available oysters for snails. A 1986 laboratory analysis by William Poundstone in Bigger Secrets indicated that the primary ingredients were parsley, pureed and strained celery, scallions or chives (indistinguishable in a food lab), olive oil, and capers.
Here is my version, reverting to the Original purpose of using French snails.
- 1 can of French escargot snails (it you can’t find them, Sabrot brand is good)
- 3 T. butter
- 1 T. chopped garlic
- 1 bunch cilantro, with stems roughly chopped off
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 T. chopped garlic
- 1 T. jalapeno jelly
- 1 jalapeno, seeds stems and veins removed
In a pan add 3 T. butter and 1 T. chopped garlic, cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until garlic becomes aromatic. Add drained and washed snails.
Just warm briefly over medium heat, do not cook, as they will shrink and become tough.
For the sauce, puree in a blender the following: 1 handful of cilantro leaves, 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. chopped garlic, 1 T. jalapeno jelly, 1 jalapeno with seeds, stems and veins removed.
Plate the snails in the butter in the center of a plate and pour the sauce around the edges.