Canapés

As can be seen from extensive advertising the canapé has morphed into big business. I appreciate it's a fiddly, time consuming exercise, which is probably why the advertising is so successful and they make an absolute mint.

This is not a bah humbug moment - cast your mind back – of all the bits and pieces you've served over the past months what has been the most popular – you know what I mean, you've made a truck load and it has all disappeared?

So, why not stick to what you know, will vanish without trace and be a huge hit – the bonus is no waste and, if by chance there should be any left over, wrap and “fridge” and serve later as part of your supper/midnight snack.

Here's my contribution :

The smoked trout mousse mentioned in “Madness II – the Recipes” can be piped into Croustades and garnished with fresh chopped chives – photo of the Croustades attached to help. 

MiamMiam Cookery And The Last Croustade!

You could if you prefer use smoked mackerel paté – here's the recipe

Smoked Mackerel Paté

250g smoked mackerel

250g quark (it's a soft cheese made from skimmed milk – not nice on its own but great as a low fat product for healthy paté!)

Glug of lemon juice

Black pepper

Two tsps of creamed horseradish

Skin the mackerel, break up and put into food processor. Add the quark and blitz with the mackerel, then add the lemon juice, black pepper and horseradish, blitz again. You can gauge the consistency of the paté to your personal taste.

You can then add, for example, chopped onion, chopped capers.

Serve with anything you like, toasted bread, rice cakes or add to warmed pitta slit, with salad or, in this case, piped into Croustades.

If you can't get hold of quark you can use cottage cheese - low fat of course!

Remember the post on Crostini – check out “Lucky Dip” for the list - choose a couple of your favourites.

A friend uses the tuna and parsley rolls recipe all the time – it's on my list too - she never travels without it – by that I mean that she serves it when she's at her home in France. Check out “Summer Holidays” for the recipe.

The Croque Monsieur using festive cutters is bound to be a candidate I'd say.

Bake a batch of cheese scones and use a smaller cutter, serve warm.

What about the retro baked Camembert mentioned in “Bank Holiday Breeze”. Whilst it's potentially a smidge on the messy side – you could serve with cheese straws placed in a straight tumbler.

Finally, before I bore you beyond all reason, if you chose Option 2 of the suppers or you're not using the Festive Three Cheese Tart as part of Option 1, then I'd be making them individually, with or without the cranberries, as one of my canapés. Its a reliable, kind recipe and doesn't suffer at all from being made ahead and frozen.

Nadolig Llawen!