We had my mom’s belated birthday dinner last night and although she wanted takeout, I still wanted to cook something. So I surprised her with a Scungilli Marinara appetizer, something we both love and have not had in years (hardly any Italian restaurants have it over here). I must say, this was my masterpiece. The sauce was chunky and delicious, and the scungili itself was melt-in-your-mouth tender. But you may be wondering what Scungilli actually is.

Look up a recipe on Google and you may be left mystified. Normally, you are met with a block of popular recipes with star ratings (All Recipes, Food Network, etc, etc)? Well, I typed “Scungilli Marinara” and was met with nothing— like two or three random blog entries. I had never made it before but thankfully it is so easy. Since they can be eaten raw out of the can, the only work is making your sauce. They just get added for five minutes at the end to heat up. And to answer your question, it is actually sliced conch, but can also be any kind of sea snail. More information here.