Snails in Tomato Sauce
Description
A distinctive dish of Sardinian cuisine , usually prepared in the autumn season, snails in sauce are perfect to be enjoyed either as an appetizer or as a first course .
To speed up and simplify preparation, we recommend buying pre-purged snails, which you will clean carefully before cooking them in a delicious red sauce, enhanced with parsley and given a lively touch with a pinch of chili pepper.
For lovers of scarpetta (sopping up the sauce with bread), this Sardinian dish will be irresistible and can make for an original starter in a rustic dinner men
Ingredients
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- Pre-purged snails 2000 g
- Tomato puree 750 ml
- Garlic 10 g
- Chopped parsley 20 g
- Bay leaves 10 g
- Chili pepper 6 g
- Extra virgin olive oil 40 ml
- Salt 13 g
Instructions
Tips
- 1 The evening before cooking this dish, you’ll need to purge the snails. Rinse them thoroughly under cold running water, then place them in a colander, sprinkle with coarse salt, cover with a lid, and place a weight on top to prevent the snails from escaping.
- 2 The following day, after at least 12 hours, wash the snails again and place them in a pot with salted, acidulated water. Once the water begins to boil, cook for about 5 minutes. Repeat this process 2–3 times, refilling the pot each time with fresh water and vinegar, bringing slowly to a boil, and cooking for 5 minutes. Then rinse them again under running water, and place them in a pot of salted water along with a garlic clove and bay leaves.
- 3 Bring to heat on low; when the snails begin to emerge from their shells, increase the flame and cook for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. Once cooled, use a small knife to remove the terminal part of the shell.
- 4 Finely chop the garlic and parsley and sauté in a large pan with hot olive oil. Add the tomato purée and let it cook for 15 minutes before adding the snails. Adjust with salt and add a pinch of chili pepper.
- 5 Continue cooking over moderate heat for another 10 minutes, then serve the snails in tomato sauce piping hot.
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Variations
To make the dish heartier, you can enrich the snails in tomato sauce by adding potatoes. In this case, sauté some onion in extra virgin olive oil for a few minutes. Once softened, add a couple of fresh tomatoes cut into small pieces, the tomato purée, and diced potatoes. When the potatoes are nearly cooked, add the snails, which you will have previously boiled in salted water with garlic and a glass of white wine. Add the chili pepper, season with salt, and mix well. As an alternative to chili pepper, you can use freshly ground black pepper to fully release its aroma.
Leave to cook for another five minutes, covering the pan with a lid, then serve the snails piping hot with fragrant slices of pistoccu bread or guttiau bread .
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