Snails in garlic butter, black pepper & chives

Are you really into French Dining? Well why not test yourself and your best friends with a gourmet snail in garlic butter dish? It is great as a starter and will certainly get your diners talking!

You will need:

100 snails (if you don't know how to collect and clean your own organic supply just ask - otherwise source a commercial supplier for Helix Aspersa.

Put the snails in a sieve and dunk them in boiling water for a few seconds to kill them. Take the snails from the shells with a small fork, wash them off and then cook.
To cook about a 100 you need a pint of water, ¾ pint of cider, a large carrot and an onion cut into pieces. Make sure the snails are covered in liquid.
Bring to the boil and simmer until tender for about an hour – it may take a little longer.Rinse in hot water to clean off the bits of vegetables. Dry on paper and set aside.

For the Le Poulbot sauce preparation you will need:

450g salted butter (at room temperature)
6 small shallots
3 garlic cloves
20g fresh chives finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme finely chopped
20g fresh parsley finely chopped
20 hazelnuts
600ml double cream
1 tbls green chartreuse
10g freshly grounded Black Pepper.
Good pinch of chervil,dill, fennel seed, basil and sage.

Peel wash and finely chop the shallots and garlic keeping them separate. In a sauté pan set over a low heat sweat the shallots in half the butter. Add all the herbs except the chives and keep some parsley for sprinkling at the end. Toast the hazlenuts under a hot grill for a few minutes until golden brown. Place the nuts into a cloth and rub together to remove the skins. Finally chop the nuts. Add the chopped nuts to the pan. Pour in the Chartreuse and ignite. Stir in the cream, black pepper, remaining butter and garlic and simmer for five minutes. Add the chives season to taste and serve in snail dishes with a sprinkling of the parsley over each dish. Serve with a nice dry white chablis or a muscadet and freshly baked parsley bread rolls.