She sells seashells by the sea shore. But, in 2020, due to COVID-19, she now brings them right to LA’s doorstep!! Lucky for us and I’m taking full advantage while I can.
So, who is “she”?
It’s Stephanie Mutz, Harry LIquornik & crew at Sea Stephanie Fish of Santa Barbara, California. They harvest and provide seafood that is environmentally responsible & fresh caught every week. Check them out on their IG account @seastephaniefish & shop their weekly store at www.seastephaniefish.com.
This past weekend was a seafood fest weekend, on of the best type of weekends of all weekends. Obliviously, I miss the weekend. I placed my order with Sea Stephanie Fish and prepared for the feast. I grew up eating snails with my Korean-American family but was pleasantly surprised to see sea snails being offered by a main stream American supplier. One of my earliest memories of my Korean grandmother’s food was small black snails dipped in spicy gochujang (red pepper paste) sauce. It was considered a delicious common dish…not a delicacy or an “I dare you” novelty. Even traveling through Paris, Milan, Turin & Barcelona, snails (or escargot) were readily available at every market place & restaurant.
why don’t we, in the US of A, eat more snails? When did eating bland, boring food become “normal”? Snails are chewy, flavorful & as a child, so much fun to eat! You get to use your fingers, a tooth pick and twirl it out of the shell, which after much cleaning & drying, you can play with later. A win-win on all parts. So let’s eat more snails!! Be adventurous, seek out unexplored cuisine (or as I did, reacquaint yourself), bring on the flavor & spice up your life!! **throwback to the 90’s girl pop phenom!!** Sure traveling has been limited with everything going on in the world but don’t let it stop you. The world wide web is there to help broaden your mind & palate!
COCONUT WINE WHELKS
Ingredients:
Whelks (sea snails)
Shallots (chopped)
Garlic (minced)
Red bell pepper (chopped)
Cilantro (chopped)
Parsley (chopped)
Ginger (thick slices)
White wine (for cooking)
Butter
Coconut milk
Salt + Pepper (to taste)
There’s a bit of preparation that goes into cooking whelks…especially when fresh caught.
With a stiff brush, clean off dirt/seaweed/sea muck off each shell under running water. Soak in salted water for about 30 minutes then rinse off.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, add the cleaned sea snails & boil for 20 minutes.
Plunge into ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Set aside
**side note** I did a bit of research on cooking snails on the web and found that there’s a wide spectrum of cooking times (from 4 minutes to 10, 20 and as long as 45 minutes). Too confusing…so I decided to test it out myself in 5, 10, 20, 30 & 40 minute increments. I found that 30 minutes was the best - tender & juicy. Knowing that I’m going to be cooking it a further 5-10 minutes with the sauce, I stopped the pre-boiling at 20 minutes.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, saute ginger & shallots in oil & butter until the shallots are close to translucent. Add garlic and further sauté until light brown.
Deglaze with white wine. Reduce to about half.
Add coconut milk & S+P to taste. Bring to a simmer
Add red pepper & whelks to the sauce. Cover & simmer for about 5 minutes. Shake occasionally.
Add cilantro & parsley. Stir & spoon sauce over/into shells.
Serve onto a plate. Take a toothpick or snail fork & pull the meat out of the shell. When you pull, go in a spiral direction instead of straight out. Be sure to remove the lid cap and you can remove the lower, darker portion of the snail. It’s edible but I think it’s too bitter and prefer without.
ENJOY!!
Thank you for checking out my post and first IGTV cooking video! I hope you order from Sea Stephanie Fish and recreate this dish at you home.
A special shout out to my amazing friend & photographer/videographer RJ Guillermo at TypeIn/TypeOut. Check out his skills and creative greatness at www.typeintypeout.com
Onward, fellow foodies, to our next culinary(-ist) adventure,
theCULINARY·IST