Mushroom Escargot

The first time I ever had escargot was the night I got engaged. Since then I love it, ok well it's covered in butter and garlic what's not to love. I've never made it at home. I'm not even sure where you would go to pick out snails nor what to look for in picking them out. We usually don't order it unless we're out on a fancy date night. The last time we had them was back in May for my husbands birthday. While I was wandering around the store Sunday morning I picked up a package of mushrooms and keep thinking what can I do with these. Hubby isn't too big on steak sauces and I didn't want to mess with making stuffed mushrooms so what else could I do besides grill or fry them? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks I'll experiment and try to use items I like that will mask the mushroom taste. :) hehe (I'm working on it, they're not my favorite and I usually just take one bite and want to spit it out.) People don't like snails and I can see why they aren't the cutest creepy crawly thing out there so why not do what they do and smother it in lots of butter?

Not being 100% sure if it would work I used toasted bread on top instead of the puff pastry the restaurants do. I think next time I'll add little circles of puff pastry on top of the mushrooms and leave them in a baking dish instead of individual dishes. I served this as a side dish, but you could always use this as an appetizer. Just be sure you have extra bread to soak up all that yummy garlic butter!

Fake-Out Escargot

(serves 4)

4 slices of bread
1 (8 ounce) package of mushrooms, rinsed and stems removed
1 stick unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast bread in oven until golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, melt butter with garlic, salt and pepper on the stove top or the microwave. Toss mushrooms with garlic butter in an 8 inch baking dish or individual ramekins.

Bake stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are soft and juicy, about 15 to 20 minutes. Just before serving toss mushrooms with parsley and top with crouton.