General Chat

Thought this might help .

Snail Linguine

24-36 snails (These are free but please purge )
280g Linguine
30g Butter
1tbsp Olive Oil
5 Fat cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 small chilli (crumbled)
1/3 Bottle of white wine(cheap will do or better still homemade)
A small handful of parsley finely chopped

Blanche snails for about 3 minutes in well salted water change water and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
use something sharp to remove from shells
add snails to the Court Bouillion below and cook for 60-90 minutes
or until tender.

Court Bouillon
put 3 bay leaves
carrot ,celery or onion chopped into large chunks
fresh thyme 1 clove of garlic ,peeled
1 tsp peppercorns
Top pan with water

Drain the snails (saving the water for cooking pasta)
leave snails to cool slightly
Cook pasta until al dente
while you are doing this sweet onions in oil and butter until translucent.Cut snails in half and add to the onions and add the chilli after a few minutes add the wine and reduce by 1/3.
Drain pasta toss in with the snails .Add parsley
Serve with a drissle of olive oil and warm Homemade crusty bread

Enjoy I did :-)))))

To purge a snail.....

.......first grab the little blighters, then put in a tray of bran for a couple of days......then they should be safe to eat.....

I get mine from Tescos though...already with garlic butter.....

I put mine in bucket with a good lid or you can use a clean pair of old tights.... feed on lettice ,dandylion ,herbs from the garden and place fresh water in a small tray in the bottom (change regually) keep snails like this for about 7 days to be safe and do not use those that have died.

I do the same with slugs, toria.

I find you don't need as many.

I'll have to try that Eldrick thanks. :-)

your making me hungry, i'm on a diet...... lol
i didn't realise you can use garden snails, how easy is that, right of to me garden.......... here snaily, snaily.... :)
xxxx

I love linguine with prawns, but for cheapness you could use crabsticks instead........cheats way this on Toria....

Cook linguine and add garlic salt and black pepper
put in shellfish or crabsticks
add soured cream or fromage frais
add chopped flat leafed parsley.....

.......haven't tried it with worms yet, but if prices go sky high I might get digging.....

.....for our Australian cousins, a few witchetty (sp) grubs should go down a treat.....

Im actually not kidding....

The black forest slug, which has the exact same physical characteristics as the Iberian slug, sometimes even the same color, since there is a red variety of the forest slug, has been eaten in Europe and at finer restaurants for ages and ages.

I found a great worm recipe once for someone on here.....................I will try and find it again.

OMG IS THAT SPOOKY OR, IS THAT SPOOKY.....

Just watching Masterchef, and what is one of them cooking........seafood linguine......

.......no mention of slugs snails or worms though.....

.....thinking about it Toria, your way of snail purging may be the better one, eating dandelions which are a diuretic and the other green stuff is healthier than bran.......which tends to make the snails quite thin.....

For those that are little squemish about snails I have a great recipe for Spiced squirrel popcorn
" or 3 squirrels
1 tbsp of fish sauce or soy sauce
50g Arrowroot
Vegtable oil (to fry)

Spiced salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1tsp allspice
1 blade of mace
75g of salt
1tsp finely chopped thyme or sage

Grind all spices in a mortar and pestleuntil a fine powder.

Cut squirrel into strips and toss in fish sauce or soy souce then in arrowroot and fry when cooked sprinkle with spice powder and serve :-)

Please use Grey squirrel for this recipe as Red squirrel is protected :-)

smc my way fattens them up to :-))

yes old gezzer i have but only once I have to admit

YG If you do I will see what recipe I can find for dragons :-)

Eldrick do you mean the big ginger slugs from the garden best as opposed to the little grey ones ?Do I puge the same as snails ? and have you a cooking time please :-)

I bet Eldrick could give you a good recipe for mopane worms too.

Tory you are ugh lol

Thats great YG .........I wonder the ants may be bigger there but if I use a few extra of the ones here ..........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuuuummmm worth a try :-))

I think mopane worms are best described as being similar in taste and texture to the inner soles of a pair of reeboks that have just been used in several marathons and then dipped in cowshi*.

Def a last resort for me and I eat some weird stuff, lol