Wood-fired!

A stolen kiss

January 6th, 2009

A perfect amuse bouche is a lot like a stolen kiss.¹

In a cunning plan to spread the workload for our New Year’s Eve dinner, I invited each of the 5 couples attending to bring a plate of amuse-bouche for 12. This provided an entertaining starter and meant I only had to serve a big bowl of Persian lamb stew, some couscous and green beans to complete the savoury part of the meal.

Of course I wanted to make my own amuse-bouche. One of my favourite food bloggers, Béa of La Tartine Gourmande had recently posted a recipe (and some great pictures as usual) for Potato Nests with Crab and Apple Topping. They looked great to me. These are my efforts.

Potato Nests with Crab and Apple Topping

The cases are grated potato, bound with egg, seasoned with parsley, nutmeg and red peppercorns and baked with a little butter. These tasted fantastic on their own and will provide a versatile base for future appetizers.

The filling is crab and grated green apple flavoured with coriander, olive oil, lime juice, spring onions and chives. The amuse-bouche is topped with crème fraîche, a pomegranite seed and chives tips.

The quality and flavour of the crab is important in this dish. Mine was a little flat but the rest of the flavours carried it through. I’d love to try this with some really fresh crab.

I dedicated my serving to its creator Béa who gave birth to her first child Lulu on Christmas Day (only 8 days after she posted this wonderful recipe).

Other amuse-bouche included egg and caviar cakes, an updated prawn cocktail, mini-pizza, a ham and mustard roulade and a well presented tray of christmas trees and stars in puff pastry - the trees topped with smoked salmon and the stars with a curried egg mixture.

The other offerings

1. Sandy Smith describes the amuse-bouche:
   The goal is to leave the diner intrigued, hungry for more; feeling, maybe, a little sad that the moment is over. A perfect amuse bouche is a lot like a stolen kiss. [↩]

Entry Filed under: Food