A regional dish in Rhode Island, scungilli is a type of snail salad. It can be found in most Italian restaurants in the Ocean State. Scungilli refers to various large marine snails with spiral shells such as whelks. Recipes for snail salad vary slightly and may call for garlic, carrot, red bell pepper, and celery seed. Italian-Americans often serve snail salad as part of their Feast of the Seven Fishes. This Christmas Eve dinner tradition is observed by Catholics who abstain from eating meat the night before Christmas.
Recipe Servings: 6
Prep Time
10 minutes
+ 4 hours resting
+ 4 hours resting
Cook Time
Total Time
4 hours 10 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- 5 lbs snails (canned scungilli can be substituted)
- 1 large red onion, sliced thin
- 1 large can black olives, sliced thin
- 3 large stalks of celery, sliced thin
- ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- Fresh chopped parsley, to taste
- Fresh chopped oregano, to taste
- Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
Directions
- Steam the snails and then let them cool.
- Crack the snail shells and remove the meat.
- Cut off the coiled digestive tract of each snail and discard it.
- Slice the snail meat lengthwise and rinse it under running water.
- Combine the snail meat, onion, olives, celery, vinegar, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
- Season it with salt and pepper.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight.
- Add the fresh chopped parsley and oregano a few hours before serving.
- Serve in small dishes or over a bed of lettuce.
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