Vive la France!
Today is French National Day. It commemorates the ‘Fête de la Fédération’, which was held on the 14th of July 1790 to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France and the unity of the French people.
The feast took place on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison which had marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
In France, people simply refer to the bank holiday as ‘Le quatorze juillet’ (the fourteenth of July). It is a day of celebration. Wherever you go, whether it be a city, town or village, there are fireworks displays, communal meals, dances and parties on 13 July. Every year on the morning of 14 July, a military parade is held on the Champs Élysées in front of the President, who reviews the troops.
I had to share something French today and Crevette mentioned snails a couple of days ago, so ‘escargots à la bourguignonne’ it is!
I could advise you to collect your own snails on a rainy day and explain how to clean and prep them, but I guess most people would find it rather off-putting. It is also a lengthy process so I will go with the easy alternative. You can buy cooked snails and shells. All you have to do is stuff each shell with a snail, top with garlic butter and place in a warm oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
I love compound butters. They are easy to make and can be used for flavouring meat, fish, boiled potatoes, or simply spreading on a piece of crusty bread.
Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- ½ cup good quality unsalted butter at room temperature 115g
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon Sel de Guérande or Maldon Sea Salt flakes
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- In a bowl, cream the butter with an electric whisk or beat it with a wooden spoon until it is soft and creamy.
- Beat in the crushed garlic, salt, pepper and parsley.
- Tip the mixture onto a square of greaseproof paper. Roll it into a sausage shape and twist the ends to seal. Place in the fridge to firm up.
Recipe Notes
You can keep the butter in the fridge for a few days or freeze it for later.
Garlic butter is tasty and incredibly versatile. What would you use it for?
quelle culture historique!!!!!! j’en suis bouche bée!!!!!! xxxx
J’étais sûre que tu serais la première à écrire un commentaire! Je n’ai pas arrêté de penser à toi pendant que j’écrivais hier soir, et je me disais que si tu avais été ma prof, j’aurais aimé l’histoire au collège-lycée. Tes élèves ont trop de chance de t’avoir ! Je n’ai pas écrit de bêtises ?
Well happy French National day for yesterday! My children are always going on about wanting to try snails, they like anything weird and wonderful, they don’t really appeal to me but I think I should give the children the chance to try them. x
I am not a fan of snails, but my little man loves them. I love the fact he embraces being French. The other day, I was asking him whether he would try eating rat if that was a French delicacy. He simply told me to stop being sarcastic!
Funny! Children aren’t as gullible as we sometimes think they are x
True!
Yum, garlic butter is great in so many things, it is just the parsley I have to omit, a pet hate of mine. #TastyTuesday
If you still wanted to use herbs, you could always try it with oregano, Fiona (or is it as bad as parsley for you?).
Oh wow – I would love to try these! #tastytuesdays
Thanks!
tu en manges des escargots?
20/20 pour le cours d’histoire!!!!!
Non, mais JP adore. Par contre, le beurre d’escargot sur du pain: miam, miam! C’est mon premier 20/20 en histoire depuis l’école primaire! Merci Madame.
Simple idea but so tasty. I adore snails too but have never thought about being able to get them in the UK. Will definitely look into it xx
You can… pretty much anywhere when it is raining 😉 For the other option (the canned one), it is fairly easy to find them online. x
WOW what a fantastic and easy recipe. I love it. I will have to try this out on my family while I am home. Looks great. Love the photos too! #tastytuesdays
Quick, easy and tasty. What’s not to love?
Great little recipe hon, good to remember and make in advance 🙂 snails are fab! #tastytuesdays
I do love a recipe that can be made ahead and frozen, especially when I have friends or family coming round.
I’ll say yum to the garlic butter but not so much for the snails, although I hear they are quite tasty from my hubby who has them when we eat in French restaurants. My boys still find it bizarre that people actually eat them – I think they’d feel too guilty to try them as they love watching snails in the garden. xx
Same here, I love the butter but have never been a huge fan of the snails. My boy loves them and I have made them for him as a treat.
I’m laughing because so far I’m the only English comment on the blog, I’m not sure how keen the Brits are on snails 😉 I love them though so will be trying this one out if we can find snails here – where did you get yours from? Ben and I both love snails and your photos have really made me want them! Bon 14 juillet for yesterday – we got L to write a post on their class blog about it, but couldn’t find any photos that were suitable for 7 year olds 😉
#TastyTuesdays
You are not! My brain was not switched on today, so I just replied to the only French comments! They have a ‘class blog’ in L’s school… Wow, things have moved on since we were at school. haven’t they? I got the snails and the shells from the following website: http://www.confitdirect.co.uk/
I totally stand corrected! Thanks so much for the link – Ben and I will give them a whirl, with your recipe 🙂 Yes, all the classes have their own blog at L’s school, and one thing her teacher wants them to learn is actually how to go about creating a blog post from scratch – it’s a whole other world out there now!
That is brilliant! I bet the children love it.
I love snails too! We usually cook this with coconut milk and chilli! Yummy! #TastyTuesdays
Coconut milk and chilli sounds nice! Do you have them in shells as well, or just in the sauce?
Fab recipe Mel, it’s been years since I’ve eaten snails. x
Thanks Julie!
A great simple recipe. We have garlic butter with a few things x
We do, too. I quite fancy a bit of garlic bread now!
Happy belated French National Day-these look exquisite! My Mum always tells me as a child I would order snails whenever we holidayed in the South of France and I still love them to this day-never been brave enough to try make them myself-we’ve got a lot of slithery snails in the garden though (kidding) x Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
The ones from the garden would be the ones we use in France actually! I am not keen I have to say but my little man loves them! I do love garlic butter though. x
I actually remember picking some from a wall in France and also in Cyprus that we cooked in butter-not sure I can face it in the UK-think French and Greek snails must be tastier somehow-it’s the sunshine or something! 😉 x
You do make me laugh! Wow lady, you are still up and it is almost midnight. What is going on?
Haha I know, hitting the sack now! Bonne nuit ma cherie (said in a posh French Grandma voice because apparently that’s what I sound like when I speak French according to my French friends)!
Bonne nuit ma belle! You must do a vlog in French at some point so I can appreciate the full extent of that!
Haha now there’s a thought! Maybe one day! x
😉
Love garlic butter but not a fan of snails at all
I don’t blame you: they are an acquired taste!
These look exquisite!! wow!! Dinner at your place then 🙂
Perfect timing, I made a lot of garlic butter this morning!
We have les escagots de bourguignonne living wild around the gite and see lots of our neighbours collecting them. Like you though I reckon if I was to eat snails at home (and I really must do this one day soon) I would buy ready cooked ones!
More for your neighbours!
This is true!
Ha Ha!
Garlic butter? YES! Thank you for this. I can see myself putting it on, well, everything! Thanks for linking up to #recipeoftheweek – sorry I’m a bit late over! Have Pinned this post and scheduled in a tweet. New linky just went live for this week 🙂 x
That is pretty much what we do at home! I have a big batch in the freezer so we will not run out anytime soon. Thanks for pinning. x