Escargot Vol-Au Vent

1. 1

   Mince the garlic and salt together and crush with the blade of a knife to make a paste. Put the butter in a large bowl (or the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), add the garlic paste, and cream together.

2. 2

   Add the parsley, chives, shallots, pepper, lemon juice, and Pernod and mix well. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to make certain the ingredients are distributed throughout the butter.

3. 3

   The butter can be piped or spooned over the snails - if desired, transfer it to a pastry bag without a tip or with a large plain tip. If using snail dishes instead of snail shells, place a snail in each indentation and pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons of butter over each. If using snail shells, place a snail in each shell and pipe in about 2 teaspoons of butter.

4. 4

   Refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 12 hours. (Any extra herb butter is wonderful melted over meats or fish. This is so good, I may actually keep some in the fridge for anytime I am cooking meat or veggies or....)

5. 5

   Direction for cooking escargot in puff pastry: Preheat the oven to 450u00b0F (230u00b0C). With a round cutter that is about 1/4 inch larger in diameter than the indentations in the snail dishes, cut 24 rounds from the puff pastry. I used my star cookie cutter and an aperitif glass.

No additional tips available.