This is the recipe for the amuse bouche that featured in my September seasonal supper club at Brown and Green, on the triangle Crystal Palace. It’s a smooth, palate-cleansing and cooling dish, perfect for that end-of-the-summer heatwave. This is a recipe for two people as an amuse bouche, but double it and you’ll have a suitably sized starter, that would be good paired with a flatbread or crusty bread. I topped the dish with some flowering grapefruit mint from our garden, but I realise that’s pretty niche and inedible flower or just mint leaves would be just as nice.
Serves 2
1/8 red onion
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 beetroot, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled and cored
200ml water
zest and juice of 1/4 lemon
2 blackberries, sliced
1/2 tbsp grapefruit mint/normal mint, roughly chopped
a pinch of pink peppercorns
extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
sea salt
Very finely chop the red onion then place in a bowl. Cover with cold water, cover with an airtight wrap and chill overnight ideally.
Place the garlic, beetroot, apple and water in a large saucepan and season with salt. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25 mins until the beetroot is very soft. Leave the mixture to cool completely.
Place the mixture in a food processor blender until very smooth. Place a sieve over a large jug and push the beetroot mixture through it, using the back of a spoon to smooth it through. Add lemon juice and chill for at least 1hr or until needed.
Mix together the lemon zest and juice, blackberries, mint, pink peppercorns and a pinch of salt, to make the salsa. Pour or spoon the beetroot mixture into two bowls and top with the salsa. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
