Arugula Soup

Arugula and banana are not much like peas and carrots, yet they match up equally well.  We were working on a late summer soup which would act as a medium to present our grains of scallop.  Arugula is in abundance right now and by coincidence, we happened to have a supply of ripe bananas on hand.  Looking at the bananas and thinking about arugula made me pause and then taste the two together.  The grassy, spicy, and slightly bitter notes of the arugula are tamed by the sweet, almost creamy richness of the banana.  And so the idea of the soup was born.  I decided to roast some of the bananas to caramelize the juice. Next I blanched the arugula. Finally I combined the juice from the roasted banana with the arugula and some roasted banana consomme and pureed them to a light, silky broth. Voilà, we had banana-arugula soup. As you can see by the photo, we paired the soup with the grains of scallop and finished the dish with a few drops of pecan oil. It created an interplay of flavors that washed over the palate changing from sweet to bitter to spicy to nutty over the course of one bite. It was a simple combination that resulted in a complex mouthful of texture and flavors.