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bamboo cones

Appetizers/ HotApp

Little Bites

Little Bites to tingle your tastebuds! — Amuse Bouche

I had never heard that word (Amuse Bouche) until I came back from our NYC trip in September and I was telling a friend I work with about a little potato appetizer we had at Gramercy Tavern. She said “oh, you had an Amuse Bouche”. (pronounced uh-MYUZboosh) And I have been obsessed ever since with these little bites. The chef at Gramercy Tavern actually sent me that recipe which I plan on making during Thanksgiving holidays. The one we had that night (and I guessed right on the recipe) was a choux pastry puff that had mashed fingerling potatoes mixed in and they were deep fried in grape seed oil and when done, an olive tapenade was piped into the center of the puff and was served on a bed of sea salt. We only had one each, but that was enough for me to know I wanted the recipe.

You won’t find Amuse Bouche on any restaurant menu because they are usually compliments of the chef. Sometimes chefs use the amuse bouche as a way to try out different recipes that may become an appetizer on their menu. An Amuse Bouche is a one bite appetizer served before the meal meant to tantalize your taste buds. In French the word means “mouth amuser”.

Recently I have checked out two books from our library in search of some different little bites I can try for some parties I’m catering. The books are Amuse Bouche by Rick  Tramonto (chef/partner at Tru in Chicago), and Small Bites by Jennifer Joyce. I have found several I want to try out during the holidays.

Here are two Amuse Bouche recipes I have tried, nothing fancy, but cute and yummy. The third appetizer I did in these little bamboo cones. Wouldn’t be classified as an amuse bouche because it is more than one bite but thought it was worth posting. The burger and melon appetizers I thought up my self (like I said, nothing fancy)

This tiny burger is a take on “sliders”, much smaller and cuter I think. I’ve been wanting to make a mini burger for a long time so I thought why not try an amuse bouce burger. Anyway, here’s what it looked like.

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Isn’t this the cutest thing ever. No recipe needed. I used wheat bread, toasted it and then using a 1″ cutter, cut out little buns. Then I fried up some little burgers about 1″ size, put a squirt of mustard (any kind) on the burger. Top this with another piece of toast (bun), then a slice of grape tomato, tiny onion slice (those cute little onions that are the size of a dime) and little chunk of baby dill to finish it off. You could also use small slice of cheese on burger if you wanted. Just cut it out using your 1″ cutter. Put one on a plate, dot with mustard, for dipping and serve. Wouldn’t a few julienned fries be a cute garnish for the plate.

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