A perfect amuse bouche is a lot like a stolen kiss.
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.
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January 6th, 2009
Well I started drafting this post in late Spring. It is mid-summer now. So much for spontaneity in posting! Still the cleanup was actually done in spring.
I need to revive my lathe. After an initial honeymoon with my wood lathe some 20 years ago it has sat neglected in the corner of my workshop. As I mostly make contemporary furniture, the lathe is only useful for creating cylindrical elements and for years I have been making these by hand-planing and sanding. Now I need some shaped cylindrical elements so the lathe must arise.
For the last 18 months the lathe has been used to support a stack of blackwood and figured eucalypt. In fact that whole corner of the workshop had become a bit of a dumping ground. Fortunately I didn’t photograph it before the cleanup!
The spring clean turned up a few interesting items.
Safety guard for Wadkin dimension saw
This is the safety guard for my Wadkin saw. I don’t use it because I find it safer to have a clear view of the blade
. What’s impressive to me is the size and solidity of the components of these old machines. This guard weighs almost 5kg even with some aluminium parts! I should have put a scale in the photo but the guard is about 150mm (6″) high. The arm that supports it is 1.5m long and so has to be pretty hefty itself - it’s a steel rod about 40mm in diameter and damned heavy. I don’t know if the guard has its the original paint job but anyone who loves old Wadkin machines will find the logo as ’stimulating’ as I do. The guard is sitting on the sliding table of the saw which itself weighs over 1000kg. You can see the dark but shiny patina that has developed on the milled steel surface over its 50+ years.
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January 3rd, 2009
First of the year
The first egg of 2009! Happy New Year everyone.
January 1st, 2009
Tea caddies in Padauk
I made these boxes for some friends this Xmas. They were filled with various appropriate things - smarties for the clever, pistachios for the nuts, etc. But they were intended as tea caddies, ie a box you can put your tea bags in (let’s face it everyone uses them) and keep on your kitchen counter near the kettle.
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December 29th, 2008
Season’s greetings to all my blogging colleagues. Special thanks to Kari, Nina and Bill for their rewarding interaction and friendship during the year. Hope you all have a wonderful break and come back blogging in the new year - I know I have plenty to catch up on.
The picture is of our new puppy Finn - taken when he was 3 months old. He’s now 13 months and maturing into a great companion. He, and his evil aunt Kira, certainly helped us through a trying year.
December 24th, 2008
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