Scungilli Salad

Scungilli is a variety of conch or sea snail. On a rare occasion at a gourmet shop you might be able to find it frozen, but I typically use La Monica canned scungilli because I can always find it. There are some shops where you can buy the salad already made, but they too are few and far between. Unlike escargot, that comes from a land snail and has a more earthy flavor (at least in my opinion), scungilli offers a delicate taste of the sea.

This salad a staple for Christmas Eve. Sadly, I only make it then and can't seem to find any photos, so I'm relegated to including an image of the La Monica can -- which isn't a bad thing because it will be easier to spot if you decide to give this recipe a try. Note the salad pictured on the can is a bit different than what I make; that salad is literally a typical green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers and the scungilli tossed in. Mine, as you're about to see, is scungilli with some other stuff tossed in.....

I always make the salad with red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil dressing. I've seen recipes use tarragon infused vinegar, and I'm sure white wine vinegar would also be nice. I like to stick to the family tradition with my dressing.

THE RECIPE:

1- 29 oz can of scungilli drained

1c diced celery (if you like fennel as I do, you can do 1/3 of this ingredient with diced fennel)

1/2 to 3/4c diced sweet or red onion

10 - 12 pitted black olives sliced into rounds

Optional ingredients might include grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise, diced fresh sweet red pepper, or diced peperoncini if you like a little heat.

1T dried oregano or more to taste

salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves fresh garlic finely minced

For the dressing you'll want to use 3 parts olive oil to 1 part red wine vinegar

• Toss scungilli. celery, onion and olive slices and any optional ingredients together in a bowl.

• For the dressing, combine the remaining ingredients and either whisk or use an immersion blender to combine well. You can adjust the seasonings and ratio of oil to vinegar to your taste.

• Once you're happy with the dressing, pour it over the salad, toss well, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight at least. It needs some marinate time for the flavors to meld.

You might see this salad plated on a thin bed of greens in a restaurant. At home it goes from serving bowl to plate. You'll want to have some good crusty Italian bread to sop up the dressing when the opportunity presents itself.

*I'll add pics after Christmas Eve 2024.