Can you imagine these special fall flavours all combined in a Tapa? Mmmmm, Snails are absolutely delicious cooked this way. Eating snails also has a special Bonus... you can eat them with your fingers! It's one of those special foods where using the fingers doesn't mean bad manners. Although, Julia Roberts' character at Pretty Woman had a little problem with a snail (escargot)... remember that scene?
Hunting Snails and mushrooms is an extended activity here in Catalonia. When Fall starts showing its nose, hundreds of Mushrooms hunters head to the woods and try to fill their baskets with as many mushrooms as they can. We are lucky enough to have many many different kinds of mushrooms; if you are curious, here you can see the ones we have in Catalonia. (sorry, only in Catalan, but with pictures for every kind).
One of my favourite mushrooms is Cep (Boletus Edulis) a supertasty and flavourful one. If you have the chance, try it. You can find them at the markets now, but also frozen, dehydrated and in cans. My recommendation is that if you find it fresh... go ahead and buy it!
Ingredients for the Tapa: 250 grs of snails, 50 grs of Boletus Edulis, 80 grs. of fresh panceta, 1 big onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 branches of fresh thyme, salt, olive oil and black ground pepper.
- First clean, wash and boil the snails as said in this post.
- Now, cover the surface of a pan with olive oil, when hot, add the panceta in dices. When golden, add the boiled snails (only the snails, not the water you used) and stir for 8 minutes at medium heat. Sprinkle with salt and black ground pepper.
- Take the snails and panceta out of the pan and reserve in a plate.
- In the same oil, cook the onion (chopped) until it gets transparent. Add a branch of thyme. Stir and pull it out after 3 minutes.
- Add the Boletus cut in dices to the pan with the onion. Stir for 3 more minutes at medium heat.
- Pour the snails and panceta back to the pan and cook for 20 minutes aprox at medium/low heat. Stir now and then.
- Mince the garlic, add to the snails and turn the heat off when fragant.
Get a good loaf of bread ready and eat warm/hot!
If you are a snail addict like me, then click at the snails picture at the right column. Buen provecho :D
If you are a snail addict like me, then click at the snails picture at the right column. Buen provecho :D
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