Strozzapreti with petits-gris snails, oyster mushrooms and pesto: local food reinvented

A modern recipe, not a false tradition

Local food is not made up exclusively of very old recipes. The Terres-de-Meuse tourist office publishes strozzapreti with petits-gris snails, oyster mushrooms and pesto by Stéphanie Todde, presented as the former chef of Le Barabas in Huy. This article tells the story of that identified creation; it does not turn it into an ancestral dish invented in the district.

The connection with Huy comes through the chef's cooking, while the ingredients draw a slightly wider food map. The petits-gris snails come from Bierwart in Namur province, and the oyster mushrooms from Ferme Limbort in Braives, Hesbaye. A dish can be rooted in one town while supporting several neighbouring areas.

Pasta connecting two cuisines

In her profile published by the tourist office, Stéphanie Todde explains her Italian sensibility and interest in nearby producers. That encounter offers a useful way to understand the plate: an Italian pasta shape welcomes local ingredients without taking away their identity.

The recipe combines pasta, ready-prepared snails, oyster mushrooms, red onion and stock, with a pesto of several herbs. The yielding pasta, the bite of the mushrooms and that of the snails are as much part of the dish's appeal as its fragrance. This is not a powerful sauce designed to conceal the ingredients: their meeting is the point of the preparation.

Techniques that add depth

The pesto includes tarragon, chervil, chives, parsley and basil, with oil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan. This combination is more than the familiar basil pesto. The official recipe then suggests sautéing the mushrooms with the onion, warming the snails and bringing everything together with the pasta and herbs.

To recreate it, consult the quantities published by the tourist office and use ready-to-use culinary snails according to their label. Retaining a little liquid helps bring the elements together without leaving the pasta dry. The result invites you to distinguish the mushrooms' flavour, the pesto's herbal notes and the texture of each mouthful.

Discover the producers behind the dish

What makes this story interesting is the network it reveals. Starting with a dish served or proposed by a chef, you discover a mushroom farm, a snail farm and a way of cooking with the seasons. The profile is an editorial record: it does not guarantee that the restaurant currently has this dish on its menu.

For a restaurant meal, check the current menu; to cook it yourself, contact the producers and adapt your shopping to availability. The photograph shows strozzapreti, the pasta shape used. It does not claim to show Stéphanie Todde's finished dish or produce bought from Ferme Limbort: the exact recipe remains the one linked in this article.

Photos and credits

Photo 1 — Strozzapreti pasta photographed in 2018; an example of the pasta shape, not Stéphanie Todde's dish. Popo le Chien · CC 0 1.0 · Source.