Escargot Three Ways - Escargots Bourguignons, Escargot Vol-au-Vent and Escargot au Gratin

Well, what a productive run to the dump we had today! lol!

We don't have trash pickup in Hawai'i so you have to actually take care of your own trash situation. That's actually fine with me as it helps you know exactly how much trash your household produces.

The State has recycling centers at our dump facility that actually tracks just how much product, by weight, it keeps out of the landfills which it resells to pay for the facility. Brilliant.

The bargains you can find here are quite something. If you could see the cool and awesome stuff that turns up here, you'd be just as impressed as we are. Who cares if we are totally garage-saling it, da kine style? It's definitely a local kinda vibe but with cool as shit vintage fare showing up daily. The Nordstrom's of dumpster diving. It's super fun and one of our favorite past times when running errands and doing household chores.

We've picked up crystal vases, local artwork, vintage electronics, gorgeous wood carvings and just about any kind of cool household item you might possibly need. For pennies.

Today our haul was two huge odd cut slabs of granite from a kitchen install. Beautiful. Stuff I probably wouldn't afford for our cabana if I had to pay retail. But today at $7 for the lot, that's just where it will end up. Thanks, dump.

I didn't see much else today except a gorgeous vintage Murano glass vase (yes, mine!) and oddest of oddities, 2 French escargot baking dishes!! Score! I showed them to Tsunami and all he said was, "So I guess we need to swing by the grocery store?" Um, hell yea.

$17 later, we were on our way. To the grocery store. :)

What I bought:
2 cans of snails
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 shallot
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 stick of butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or whatever herb you have, right?)
salt, pepper to taste
hot sauce and/or lemon, optional, of course but that's how we do it

Super easy prep:

1. Mince very finely parsley, garlic, shallots and thyme together to create a mirepoix of sorts.
2. Add 1/4 tbsp of butter to each indent of your escargot pan, if using an escargot or aebleskiver pan. Basically, a pat of butter quartered is what I start with in each spot.
3. Add a snail or two.
4. Top with a 1/2 tsp of your mirepoix mixture and add another dab of butter if you think it needs it.
5. Cut small circles to fit your indents, if doing the vol-au-vent version. Otherwise, just bake as is with your butter/herb concoction. An optional twist is to make them au gratin style, which is just sprinkled with cheese. 

Bake:
Preheat oven to 450 F.

These are cooked to order just before serving, so once ready, pop in the oven for 15-16 minutes or until butter is bubbly and/or the puff pastry is puffy and lightly browned.

You can serve with a crusty bread or French baguette, which yes, I often make as well. But tonight, because Tsunami is a pot-pie-aholic and because we had it this way at a pretty famous Chicago restaurant some years ago, we are having it with puff pastry; Escargot Vol-Au-Vent.

Honestly, though, we always serve it with extra French bread because there is always some delicious butter sauce left that needs to be addressed. lol! Almost the best part of this whole dish so don't leave this goodness behind!

Inspired by recycling. But with this awesome dish, no need for leftovers because there won't be any. Who cares? This dish is almost obscene in that it is nothing but fresh herbs, butter and canned snails. Fancy fast food. Who can complain about that?

Don't have an escargot pan? Maybe use a mini muffin pan? Or shot glasses! I've even seen this recipe done family style in a shallow au gratin pan. Whatever suits the bill for the amount of guests you will be serving. Even if it's just your little ol' self... Fancy can totally be done solo.

* Note about canned snails: drain and wash well with cold water and keep refrigerated, covered until ready to use. Use within 5 days. I use sooner than that, generally speaking. My cans typically yield 18 good sized snails so that goes pretty far! One pan for me, one pan for you, one pan for whoever makes it there first!

No Jive - Never Fail Cheese and Chive Souffle

Oh ma gah. It's been a little chilly here lately. Yup, the polar vortex touched Hawai'i for like a minute...but it was no big thang as it just meant snuggling up and having a few fires. But being that we are in the mountains, we typically get cooler weather than the rest of the island. And wetter.

But, this is an island, after all. Trade winds blow in fresh beautiful weather daily. There is a common understanding amongst the locals that if you just drive 10 minutes in any direction, you will get very different weather. And that's because this island, unique in all the world, boasts 8 of the world's 14 microclimates. Some say 13... this is hotly debated island convo... lol!

For some reason the weather prompted me to want something in the comfort-food kinda range. No idea why but the first thing that popped into my mind was French souffles. lol! I know... but I just decided to go with it and tried a new version I'd seen that used a Béchamel base instead of the more traditional folded whites process.

Lord, I will never it do it differently. My souffles ended up being two singles because out of all the freaking kitchen gadgets and contraptions and dishes I do have, I do not have a souffle dish. Oh well. I am unafraid to improvise so two ceramic, oven proof soup bowls became the vessels of choice. Worked like a cheesy frenchy charm.

And an added bonus was the complete shock and awe it produced in Tsunami. He had been busting his butt working on our new lanai and I knew he was not feeling up to making dinner. Seizing the opportunity to do something inspired, I ran with it. When he asked what I was making and I told him a French souffle, he just looked at me over his specs like he was trying desperately not to show on his face what he was actually thinking. lol! Tonight? Yup. What's in it? So I had to set it up a bit like we do for the kids, selling it sorta restaurant style as if I'm trying to sell out of our daily special.

Think of this like an adult version of a super decadent, super sophisticated cheese omelette for dinner, I told him. "Well alright. Can't wait to see this. I've never had a souffle, don't think." Trying so hard to hide his inner WTF? And so, the stage was set for my adult omelette showstopper of a dinner. lol!

What I can tell you is that if you want to impress yourself, make this. If you want to impress your spouse when he's super tired and totally prepared for a PB&J, if necessary, make this. If you want to impress your mother in law, make this. Not gonna lie, this will impress even the most supportive skeptic sitting on the couch who never had no souffle. lol!

Here's what ya need:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

5 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
salt, pepper to taste
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons fresh chives
2 1/4 c grated Swiss/Gruyere

Buttered or oiled ovenproof baking dish (at least 6 cups if serving family style) or dishes for single serves. I used 2 individual ceramic, ovenproof cereal bowls and turns out this was too much for both of us. lol! We each could only eat half although we fully intended to eat the whole thing. So, rule of thumb, for us, this could easily serve 4.

**This will make about 5 cups batter in total. I used a large glass measuring cup to assist in pouring or dividing into smaller, portioned baking dishes.

Here's what ya do:
If you've never made a Béchamel, you are in for a treat! This is one of the "mother sauces" of French cuisine and you'll totally understand why once you make it. Takes minutes.

It's essentially a roux of equal parts flour and butter that transforms into a sauce with the addition of milk and cheese. Super simple so don't be intimidated. Best of all... you can use this sauce again for the most decked out mac and cheese you can imagine and without the cheese, it is also the foundation of any good homemade milk gravy.

Time to get your Béchamel on...

1. Make the Béchamel by melting your butter in a non stick skillet on low heat. Let it melt, don't let it brown. As soon as it has melted, add your flour and gently whisk in to incorporate.
2. Add the milk a little at a time so you can incorporate it evenly into the roux. I use a measuring cup, makes pouring a little so much easier. It will be very thick at first but keep adding the milk until it's all incorporated. It will be smooth and silky.
3. Remove from the heat and season your bechamel sauce with salt, pepper to taste.
4. In a large measuring cup or bowl (reuse the one you just used for milk?), whisk your eggs and add a dolop of your Béchamel to your eggs to temper them a bit. You don't want to incorporate the eggs into a really hot bechamel all at once or it will cook the eggs. 
5. Add the rest of the Béchamel to your tempered eggs and mix well.
6. Stir in the grated cheese and chopped chives to your bechamel and then pour into your buttered or greased baking dish.

At this point, the best part of this recipe... is that you can make this ahead and keep in the fridge overnight to bake off the next day! But I didn't do that. lol! Just saying, how gloriously awesome it is that you can do that with this recipe. You can't do that with a folded egg white version, which is the more traditional way to make a souffle. But this is just too wonderful of an improvement to that method that I can't see myself ever doing it that way again.

Here's how ya bake it:

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F on the center oven rack.

I checked mine at 30 minutes and was in love with how perfectly it had risen. It also looked nearly cooked but was still a bit light on top. I baked mine the full 40 minutes which allowed the cheese and top to brown up so nicely and the texture was absolutely perfect. Creamy, fluffy and just so delicious.

Tsunami just looked at me like I was Julia Child or something. Just kept saying in his long Southern drawl, "Adult omelette, my ass. This is so delicious. WTF? Insane." Inner WTF, you're mine. lol! 

Later on he admitted that he was totally skeptical of my dinner project but had high hopes. Fair enough. I love the learning process and the science behind my cooking so I am sometimes a bit too willing to fail. And he knows that. lol! However, I do get a cheeky satisfaction if I can impress my favorite skeptic, which, let's face it, is a lot more often than he will ever admit. 

My Special Forces Green Beret veteran eats French souffle and loves it. How about yours? :)