For your enjoyment…

Are you like me on weekends or special holidays or when you have guests? On those occasions I like to cook something very special, not the usual fare. Then I’m either spoilt for choice or nothing occurs to me. If even the most intensive search on the internet comes to nothing, or leafing through piles of cookbooks fails to offer a solution, try out our Recipe of the Month! 

From chefs of the Schick restaurants in Vienna, every month there will be a new, seasonal recipe from Austrian-Spanish or Viennese cuisine for you to cook and enjoy at home!

In August 2013 – recipe by Johannes Reiser – Chef at the decorated Restaurant “Das Schick”:

Cream soup of aubergines . olive croquette . pumpkin-seed oil

Ingredients for 4 servings:

250 g aubergines, peeled and diced
1/2 l clear broth
1/4 l cream
2 cloves garlic
4 shallots, peeled
juice from 1 lemon
50 g grated Manchego cheese
1/8 l olive oil for finishing
salt
white pepper
ground rosemary
a bit of butter
a bit of pumpkin seed oil

200 g potatoes, boiled and peeled
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp. course-grained flour
100 g green and black olives (pitted), diced
1 tsp. coriander, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper
nutmeg
oil for frying

Preparation:

Sprinkle aubergines with lemon juice. Lightly sweat with shallots and garlic cloves in butter, without allowing the colour to fade.

Season with salt, pepper and a bit of ground rosemary. Infuse with broth and simmer for approx. 20 minutes. Subsequently, add cream, Manchego cheese and olive oil. Bring to a boil, then immediately mix to a creamy froth using a handheld blender.

Olive croquettes: Rinse olives in cold water and allow the excess water to drip off. Puree potatoes. Add egg yolks, olive oil and spices and mix everything with the olives. Form croquettes using two spoons. Fry one croquette as a test – if the croquette holds its shape, chill or freeze the remaining donuts and fry them in hot oil prior to serving.

Serve the frothed soup with the croquette and a few drops of pumpkin-seed oil as desired, a tasty and nice decoration are chips of aubergines – such as in our photo, for example.

We wish you much success… bon appétit!