Welcome, bienvenidos to Cook and the Fly
In this blog you'll find Mexiterranean food pictures and recipes, fishing stories, random thoughts and snippets of my new life in Southern Baja.

12.12.2011

Sea snails (caracol chino) with herb butter and fried polenta.

This is my take on escargots. Locally we have a kind of sea snail known as Caracol Chino , but any kind will do.
It's a recipe about textures : the slight chewiness of the sea snails, the crispness of the crust on the polenta and the buttery-ness of the sauce.

Start by making a firm polenta and let it cool down in a baking pan.
Prep the snails and slice them really thin.
Prep the herbs : chop 3 parts of parsley and 1 part of tarragon ; use a sharp knife.
Dice some garlic, don't smash it.

From now on things will happen fast:

Cut polenta in the shape you like, dredge it in flour and deep fried it till a nice,crispy,golden crust forms. Reserve it on kitchen paper

Sautee garlic in plenty of butter and a splash of olive oil.

Add the snails, S&P, and a splash of white wine;  keep cooking till done and tender (around 5 mins. )

Add the herbs, a squeeze of lemon and give it a couple stirs and serve with the fried polenta.

FLY to the table and don'let it cool down!

I serve mine with pickled radish and a bit of tender lettuce...

A lighter red, like a Dolcetto or Barbera, or an important, crisp white would be great with it.
Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

No comments:

Post a Comment