Junk food=amuse bouche
On this week’s Top Chef, for the quick-fire challenge, the chefs had to create an amuse bouche (a small bite to tempt your tastebuds before the meal arrives), using only items from vending machines. Each chef had $10 in quarters with which to purchase their ingredients.
Michael, the class clown of the group stuck a Cheeto into a Snickers bar to create a particularly phallic-looking, no-effort mouth teaser. Others were a bit more inventive, taking the fig mixture out of a Newton for sauce on a frittata, or creating a tostada from a Do-r-rito (roll the r) and some chicken salad out of a sandwich. The winning entry was a sunflower seed and carrot loaf with cilantro, sesame, and Squirt.
How do they come up with this stuff? This got me thinking of what type of amuse bouche I would make from vending machine foods. But all of my ideas were chocolate, or otherwise sweet. And as I learned from Top Chef, an amuse bouche is not supposed to be dessertish. For sure I’d sure try to find a way to use Munchos. Muchos are a highly underrated snack food.
What would you prepare?
my place of work (home) doesn’t have a vending machine so i have no idea what delights are contained in those that supply sandwiches and veggies. but i might make a hot dog pate served on a ritz cracker. of course, i would decorate it with a tastefully placed sprig of rosemary which i also happen to have in my veg. drawer. bon appetit.