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 October 2011:

Recipe from Johannes Reiser – chef for the restaurant “Das Schick”:

Fried scallops & trout mousse
on red beets in Waldviertel basil poppy seed oil

Ingredients for 4 persons:  

8 scallops
8 even slices of zucchini
olive oil
salt, white pepper, lemon juice
Waldviertel basil poppy seed oil
balsamic vinegar
2 red beets
trout caviar and herbs for garnishing

Mousse:
150 g smoked trout filet
lime juice
125 g crème fraiche
125 g whipped cream
2 tbsp. sherry
2 gelatin leaves
sea salt, freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp. chopped dill
grated horseradish, to taste
mustard and a bit of Worcester sauce, to taste

Preparation:

Wash red beets and cook till they are soft. Peel, then scoop out evenly shaped balls with a scoop. Marinate in basil poppy seed oil and basil.

Mousse: Finely mince trout filet with crème fraiche. Add spices and horseradish to taste. Soften gelatin in cold water, press, briefly melt on the stove in some sherry and stir in beneath the trout mass. Carefully blend whipped cream underneath the trout mass, intersperse dill and allow to cool.

Briefly wash scallops, dry and carve slight crosses in them, then season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Fry in olive oil for a maximum of 2 minutes on each side, then allow to drip on a paper towel. Likewise, briefly fry the zucchini slices on both sides.

Set the scallops atop the zucchini slices. Scoop out the mousse with a spoon or decorate the dish using a pastry bag, and arrange it together with the red beets—as in our photo for instance.

Have fun cooking and bon appétit!