Bouche! Your mouth ... something to tickle your tastebuds.
Taking a short break up to Iceland, we ate at a really cool restaurant: Sjávargrillið, whose genius Chef Gústav Axel Gunnlaugsson preceded his quite stunning dishes with a little amuse bouche.
His was a very small portion of chopped cucumber, radish, that sort of thing, with a blob of very refined flavour - it might be a root, might be a vegetable, could be an emulsion of herb; whatever his choice that day, it was always superb!
My ode to his little creation was to place some very small cubes of cucumber, radish and red pepper into a small dish along with a parsnip cream.
Peel, cube and boil some parsnip.
Puree the parsnip with some garlic while it is still hot - this will cook the garlic through without cooking out its flavour. Add in some cream to cook it. Blend on until really smooth.
Assemble the dish.
Be aware that this little dish is served in a salt saucer - it is that small.
For garnish, I used a single coriander leaf and a sprinkle of Icelandic ash salt.
... this was prior to an evening of spicy Mexican inspired food. Make your amuses fit with the meals to come - it should be a microcosm.
