Remember that nursery rhyme–about little boys and little girls? If you don’t then you are too young!
Move over Chuck! I’m made of that too!
So then, if little boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails.
Me and Chippy. We’re ready for the snails and the frogs. Bring ’em right here!
And if girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, then what the hell am I made of?
Yeah. I’m sweeter than sugar too!
The reason I ask this is simply because I’ve been cooking—and last weekend I made snails. And I loved them. And I’m thinking of making frogs legs as an appetizer for Christmas week.
Ohhhh…Frogs legs! I’m so lustful after some Frog legs that I just may bite Bonaparte’s legs!!
And if Chippy goes after any of my cooked goods, I’ll be dragging him away from the table by the tail.
Keep wagging that tail Chippy–but don’t get any ideas to eat my frogs legs or snails. OK?
And I’m not a boy.
And yeah. I’ve been doing a ton of baking and using quite a bit of sugar and spice—but not necessarily am I made up of everything nice.
I’m a woman—not a girl. And for the record. I like frogs and snails better than the sweet stuff!
But fear not. I’ve got a couple of recipes for you.
I made Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s Escargot recipe last Saturday.
Photo Credit: Krista Kennell/Sipa Press.
Chef Ludo. I think he is, quite possibly, America’s greatest gift from France! His recipes are great!
Because of Bonaparte, I did end up tweaking the recipe. He did not want the cognac incorporated into the recipe (I did want it) and he did not want the shallots incorporated into the recipe (I did want it). And so I left them out. Although the snails tasted spectacular with the omitted ingredients, they are going in next time.
Here’s the scoop:
Chef Ludo’s Snails in Parsley Butter (From Food & Wine)
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- 1 tablespoon dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Cognac
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- Rock salt, for baking
- 24 snail shells, rinsed and dried
- 24 canned giant snails, drained and rinsed
- Crusty bread, for serving
Blend the butter, parsley, shallot, dry white wine, garlic, kosher salt, cognac, pepper and nutmeg together.
Empty shells, finished parsley butter, and snails waiting to be stuffed. Shells and snails were purchased from the Gourmet Food Store
NOTE: I used my food processor to chop the parsley and shallots and then mixed the remaining ingredients in my Kitchen aid.
Preheat the oven to 400°. Spread a 1/4-inch-thick layer of rock salt on a rimmed baking sheet. Pack 1/2 teaspoon of the butter into each escargot shell and stuff a snail inside. Fill with the remaining butter. Nestle the shells in the salt, butter side up.
NOTE: I didn’t do the rock salt. I just placed the stuffed snail shells into the snail plate and cooked it.
Snails were cooked and served in these plates. The weird looking thingy holds the snails as you pick out the snail with the little snail fork!
NOTE: I also brought the butter to room temperature, spooned into a pastry bag and piped the butter into the shell, then added the snail, then finished off with more butter.
Left pic: Piping the butter into the snail shells. Right pic: Ready for the oven!
Bake the snails for about 10 minutes, until the butter is bubbling. Serve hot with crusty bread.
Freaking amazing! This is the greatest recipe! Thank you, Chef Ludo!
Out of the oven, piping hot and delicious and the melted butter is great for dipping bread. I froze 12 so we have more for this weekend!
If you are a regular reader, then you are aware that every Christmas I make a traditional Buche de Noel. The cake itself is a genoise sponge cake and is rolled and frosted.
2015 Buche de Noel…
2016 Buche de Noel
This year, I made the cake ahead and wrapped it very well and it is now in the freezer. I’ll thaw it out and frost it on Christmas Eve. It’ll be decorated with meringue mushrooms and it is the one dessert I look forward to. The filling and the frosting will either be a chocolate butter cream or ganache. I haven’t decided yet. But here’s the recipe for the genoise cake:
Genoise Cake for Buche de Noel’s Link from The Spruce: Genoise Cake.
Genoise freshly baked and out of the oven..
Rolled and wrapped in a towel until completely cooled off!
Wrapped up in plastic and foil. Let’s hope it thaws out well!
I’m hoping this plan works because the only cakes I freeze are pound cakes—but there’s a reason that I froze this one. I started a job on Monday and I’m trying my best to prepare everything ahead that can be.
Yes. I was hired and it didn’t take that long. But I will say, I’m happy to be employed again because being in an office is a great diet aid for me. I’m nowhere near a refrigerator or cabinets filled with food. I can focus on work and not get up every ten minutes for a piece of cheese or bread!
And God knows that I need that. I gained about ten pounds being home since September. As soon as Christmas is done with, I’ll be back on Weight Watchers!
I’ll be living on butternut squash after the Holidays!
But the good thing is that my clothes still fit. And here’s what I wore so far this week. My apologies for not writing posts since the weekend, but I’m finding my groove with the timing of my hours and with the Holidays inching up—it’s been tough!
So, here’s what I wore so far this week!
Monday was my first day. Plaid pants and heels!
Our office is casual–so I was able to wear these cute velvet pants, flats and a bright sweater.
I dressed for comfort in a plaid skirt and boots today! OMG. It’s so much fun to get dressed again!!!
I’ve been listening to Christmas music to and from work. I have a CD–Christmas With The Rat Pack–it’s basically Frank, Dean and Sammy. Here’s a more unusual but total Rat Pack Sammy Davis Jr. Song: Christmas All Over The World! I can’t help it but I’m very much entertained by this song!
