Amuse-Bouche

An amuse-bouche is a single bite of food designed to amuse the mouth and excite the taste buds before a meal begins. To serve an amuse-bouche before a meal is a very French tradition.

I recently bought a new cookbook, "Amuse-Bouche, little bits of delight before the meal begins" by Rick Tramonto and it is full of wonderful ideas, all designed to be served as an exciting start to a meal. Part of the fun in serving an amuse-bouche is finding creative ways to present them. You could serve anything as an amuse-bouche; a lovely spoonful of curry on a small mound of rice served on a chinese spoon, a single dumpling, a small cup of soup, a square of quiche, let your imagination run wild!
The picture at the top shows Rick Tramonto's Moroccan Lamb with Tabbouleh and Crispy Garlic. The tabbouleh is what I would call a fairly typical tabbouleh made from bulgur, lemon juice, flat leaf parsley, diced tomato and olive oil. Bulgur can be substituted with cracked wheat but as bulgur has already been steamed it requires a lot less cooking than the cracked wheat.
To make the lamb you slow cook lamb shanks or lamb shoulder in red wine, onions, carrots, celery and thyme. This amuse-bouche is served cold topped with crispy fried garlic slices. I expected more flavour in the lamb and think it could have done with some extra spices but overall this was a tasty spoonful with a nice mixture of textures.

I have been trying to find a soup that tastes great and looks like a cappuccino so trialled a couple. The first from Rick Tramonto's book is a very simple Roasted Garlic Soup with Lovage. I replaced the lovage with celery, which has a similar but milder flavour. To make this soup you half and roast a head of garlic sprinkled with olive oil and thyme leaves. You then cook some celery and onion, add the roasted garlic cloves, cream and water and cook for 30 minutes. Finally you puree the soup, season and serve sprinkled with lovage leaves. This soup was nice but I wouldn't rush to make it again.

The second soup I made was a simple cauliflower and bacon soup which can be found at http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=777145 This was a thicker soup, very easy to make and very tasty. You could serve it as either an amuse-bouche, an entree or a main course.

This Angel Hair and Artichoke Frittata is another of Rick Tramonto's recipes. Again very simple and tasty. To serve as an amuse-bouche cut into small wedges and serve on small plates or cut into larger wedges and serve with salad for a light meal.

Angel hair pasta is a long, very fine spaghetti available in most supermarkets. I could only get a packet of angel hair pasta cut into smaller pieces which was fine for this recipe. To make this frittata you cook the pasta then toss with quartered artichoke hearts in an oven proof fry pan. Add in beaten eggs, milk and baking powder and cook until the egss are set on the bottom. Transfer to the oven to finish cooking then serve sprinkled with fresh herbs, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or parmesan) cheese and a dollop of creme fraiche. Enjoy!

These Chicken Dumplings with Chilli Glaze are a Donna Hay recipe which can be found at http://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/104-chicken-dumplings-with-chilli-glaze/pf=1 The filling was a simple mix of water chestnuts, chicken mince, coriander, ginger and soy sauce. The chilli glaze was made by simmering chopped chillies, white vinegar and sugar until syrupy. I did forget about my glaze and overcooked it so it became very sticky! The dumplings were tasty and the chilli glaze added a nice flavour however they were a bit large and difficult to eat off a chinese spoon.

I am still searching for the perfect amuse-bouche to serve on a chinese spoon, so please let me know if you have any wonderful ideas!