Capesante à la Rudolfo (scallops)

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 kg scallop(s), in the shell (12 – 14 pieces)
• 13 small cherry tomatoes
• 1 bulb(s) garlic (13 cloves)
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 5 cl wine (Schilcher)
• ¼ liter olive oil, extra virgin (approx.)
• Salt
• Pepper, from the mill
• 1 baguette(s)

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Starter for fish main courses

The Capesante come in their shells, closed, and if I want them to look truly exquisite (eye), I clean them with a pressure washer at 120 bar. Wear Baumax work gloves and hold the mussel in the jet about 15 to 20 cm from the nozzle. Nothing can harm your hand; the mussel will be as pure, clean, and brilliant white as if it had been lying on the beach in Maui for 10 years. Then force the mussel open with an oyster opener and use a sharp knife to sever the sphincter on the flat half of the mussel’s shell. Discard the flat half, remove the sand, mucus, intestines, and the black stuff attached to the roe from the mussel in the other half, and rinse it under running water. Do not separate the mussel meat from the other half of the shell; it remains firmly attached to it. Connoisseurs consider this a sign that the mussel is fresh and not from a can. In more remote models, the sphincter immediately detaches from the shell. Now the hardest work is done. Chop the garlic and zucchini medium-finely, cut the cocktail tomatoes into eighths, and finely chop the parsley. Arrange the shells with the mussels nicely on the countertop, add a little salt and freshly ground pepper, add half a teaspoon of chopped garlic and chopped zucchini to the mussel, and then scatter the quartered cocktail tomatoes over the mussels. Now pour the olive oil directly from the bottle into the mussel shells (but only really good olive oil, not Olio Sasso), just enough so that nothing spills over the edge. It would be helpful to have a griddle. I heat this to about 150 degrees Celsius and place the mussels, shell-on, on the griddle. After 10 to 12 minutes, the oil in the mussel shells begins to sizzle, the mussel meat turns white, and the appetizer is ready. The garlic should not brown under any circumstances! Now add a few drops of Schilcher (a very dry wine specialty from western Styria), at most half a teaspoon, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with slices of baguette. You can also use it without a griddle; in this case, the peels should be placed on a baking sheet as described above and placed in the oven with the bottom heat on.