For your enjoyment…

Do you feel the same as I do on weekends on or special holidays, or when you have guests over? I’d like to cook something very special, not the usual fare. Then I’m either spoiled for choice or I can’t think of anything at all. If even intensively searching the internet turns out to be fruitless or leafing through piles of cookbooks doesn’t turn up any solution, try our Recipe of the Month!

From the chefs of the Schick Restaurants in Vienna, every month there is a new, seasonal recipe from Austrian-Spanish or Viennese cuisine for you to prepare and enjoy at home! If you don’t want to have to prepare the recipe yourself, you can order the finished dish in comfort at the corresponding Schick Restaurant and indulge all around…

in December 2013 – recipe by Johannes Reiser – chef of the Restaurant “Das Schick”:

Flan of white chocolate . poached pear in Rioja. mint sprinkles

Ingredients for 4 servings:

Rioja pear:
4 pears, equally large
1/2 l red Rioja wine
5 tbsp. brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
zests from one orange

Flan of white chocolate (for 4 forms, each 1/8 l in volume)
1/8 l whipped cream
100 g white chocolate
100 ml milk
50 g sugar
2 tbsp. Grand Marnier
3 gelatin sheets

Mint sprinkles:
50 g soft butter
70 g all-purpose flour
60 g powdered sugar
2 tbsp. chopped mint (washed and dried)
salt

Preparation:

Poached Rioja pears: Peel pears and remove cores. Bring Rioja, together with all other ingredients, to a boil. Add pears and cook until soft (note different cooking times depending on type of pear). It is best to allow the pears to infuse in the Rioja stock overnight. Strain Rioja stock, season to taste, and thicken/reduce it a bit more via boiling.

Flan of white chocolate: Soak gelatin in cold water. Bring milk, cream and sugar to a boil, add chocolate, and allow to melt. Fold in Grand Marnier and gelatin, strain the mass through a fine sieve and fill molds with this mixture. Allow to solidify in the refrigerator. Remove carefully from the molds (must not be too solid) by turning them upside-down.

Mint sprinkles: Knead all ingredients and briefly let sit. Crumble dough on a baking sheet or grate using a coarse grater or rasp. Subsequently bake in the oven for several minutes until golden brown.

Serve flan and pear with the reduced Rioja stock and mint sprinkles as desired – like in our photo, for instance – and enjoy…

We wish you much success!