Snails provençale (escargots à la provençale)

David Poirier, of Sydney restaurants La Grande Bouffe, Le Village and Bistro Mémé, shows Luke how to cook his grandmother’s recipe of escargots à la provençale.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• 200 g speck, chopped
• 200 g prosciutto, chopped
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 red chilli
• 2 yellow chillies
• 250 ml (1 cup) rosé
• 125 g chopped tomatoes
• ½ cup roughly chopped dill
• ½ cup roughly chopped parsley
• lemon zest
• 2 threads saffron
• 500 g drained, cooked snails
• olive bread, to serve

Instructions

Place olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, speck and ham. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until aromatic. Add the thyme and chilli. Stir until chilli softens slightly. Add the rosé and stir to combine. 

Add the tomato, dill, parsley and lemon zest, followed by the saffron. Stir to combine.

Add the cooked snails and reduce heat, until simmering. Cover and cook for approximatively 30 minutes. Serve with the olive bread.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.