Suggestion please - Canapes for Chrimbo. See criteria

amdublin

Hi,

I have been charged with the canapes for Christmas.

My family are visiting with my relatives this year which is a complete change. We don't normally do canapes - just go BIG on the main event, the dinner!

Criteria
I want simple to make suggestions please
I don't mind if they are readymade
Want it all mini/bite size/cute
I want them to LOOK really GOOD!!!!

I'd love over-the-top suggestions about how to serve them e.g in mini jars etc.
e.g. Buy potted crab (is there such a thing??) in M&S, transfer to little jars etc

Nice/unusual ways to serve brown bread and salmon?? Small, cute and bitesize!

Where would I buy small (mini!) jars??

Any suggestions at all?! All welcome!

Merkin

You can buy the mini jars in Stock in Dublin as I was in there at the weekend buying jars and they had teensy weensy ones there. Perfect for pate!

I think maybe you mean potted shrimp? If so it is very easy to make and I don't think it would work if you were to pre-buy it and then try and transfer it to another dish as it needs to set.

amdublin

Ooh thanks for the info about Stock. Is that the place near the Gaiety, opposite the Stephen's Green centre?

I'll be near there tomorrow and will check it out.

M&S do lovely piri piri hummous. Might transfer that to the jars and do mini veg crudites to dip.

Would you have a nice menu for potted shrimp??

amdublin

I like all these!
Salmon rolls look nice, plus the no cook soup shooters have given me ideas!!!

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/research-institute/31-no-cook-appetizers

Anyone know where I'd get mini martini glassess???

Merkin

Yes, that's the one! Just opposite Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. One of my favourite shops ever They have tonnes of jars so go and have a look!

I haven't made potted shrimp myself but it's dead easy. Recipe here - I know you can add a little anchovy paste or blended anchovies into the mix as well for extra punch.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2743666/sharing-potted-shrimp

For canapes I also find little stacked caprese salad bits very easy. Just get a slice of buffalo mozarella topped with a basil leaf, a slice of tomato with a bit of sea salt and a little parma ham on top and they look amazing but dead easy to assemble.

amdublin

Potted shrimp does look dead easy!

Plus that stacked caprese salad sounds easy and looks great also.

Thanks for all these ideas Merkin - exactly what I am looking for

amdublin

I wonder what deconstructed brown bread and salmon would be like!

(My own recipe from my imagination! I am sure it has been done before).

mini martin glass
twist of salmon (small)
squeeze of lemon juice
crumbled up brown bread, sprinkled over lemon
twist of pepper

Little spoon to eat it

Whatcha think?!

Edit. might even make a salmon mousse with crumbled brownbread base

Merkin

Hmm, sounds nice but wouldn't the bread go a little soggy and become very "fishy" when contained like that. I think for something like soda bread and smoked salmon I would keep it simple. Another alternative is to do tiny smoked salmon roulades and do them on little squares of brown bread? I've made these before, dead simple and definitely a crowd pleaser!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/smokedsalmonspringon_87783

clappyhappy

amdublin wrote: »

Anyone know where I'd get mini martini glassess???

Not your standard martini glasses, but I was in ikea last week and they had lovely schnapps glasses. About 4" high, really cute and only about €2 each (I think). They had them in the Christmas area near the check outs.
They are lovely to keep in freezer and serve some after dinner drinks, schnapps, drambuie,sloe gin etc. but can be used for mini tiramisu, sorbet, your smoked salmon etc.

Good luck!!

Minder

Beetroot, orange and hazelnut salad in chicory leaves with fromage frais.

Sherry granita - keep in the freezer in a tupperware box, it keeps for ages.

50ml water
50g caster sugar
350ml fino sherry
175 cream sherry
a little lemon juice

Boil the water and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add both sherries and lemon juice to taste (2 tsps). Cool, freeze and rake with a fork occasionally to break it up. At -18c (freezer temp) it doesn't set hard, its more like a slushie. Serve in frozen shot glasses with the olives.

Stuffed breaded green olives. For 6

36 pitted queen green olives
150g ricotta
Grated zest of one lemon
25g finely grated parmesan cheese

Breadcrumb station

150g fine breadcrumbs of your choice
3 eggs beaten with 100ml milk
100g flour

Rinse the olives in fresh water and soak overnight in fresh water if they are particularly salty. Add the parmesan to the ricotta with the lemon zest. Add to a piping bag and fill the olives with it.

Flour, egg wash and breadcrumb the stuffed olives. Chill in the fridge for 15minutes, then eggwash again and breadcrumb again. Deep fry at 170 to 180c for 3 or 4 minutes until golden brown.

The olives need a minute or two to cool before you tuck in as they will be piping hot in the middle.

Serve the sherry granita in frozen shot glasses with a little plate of the hot stuffed olives.

amdublin

Oh my gosh these are amazing recipes.

Yes I will look in ikea for these... think they will be perfect!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60015131/

clappyhappy

Yes they are the ones, very reasonably priced. They also had fabulous champagne glasses, very cheap also!! Wouldn't worry about them getting broken.

amdublin

Think I will do little cold soup/shooters in these:
http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/90091996/

And then my deconstructed brown bread and salmon in these:
http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/60015131/

Johnny_Fontane

-its basic, but homemade sausage rolls are fantastic and so easy. And everyone loves them. just add a bit more thyme to the sausage for that high end flavour.
-Devils on horseback are great too. Basically prunes wrapped in smokey bacon. The auld ones love this, it brings them back to 1973.

amdublin

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

-its basic, but homemade sausage rolls are fantastic and so easy. And everyone loves them. just add a bit more thyme to the sausage for that high end flavour.
-Devils on horseback are great too. Basically prunes wrapped in smokey bacon. The auld ones love this, it brings them back to 1973.

Love it

clappyhappy

Going on the sausage roll theme a lovely recipe is, remove skin from sausages, crumble some black pudding into it. Bind both together and place on pastry and cook & serve as normal saugae rolls,. There are many variation to this, add in chopped apples, sweet chilli sauce, red onion marmalade, herbs, enjoy!!

MissFlitworth

Last year I made something really cute that didn't taste so ace so I'm sticking with the presentation idea and, eh, not attempting to make masa harina & dairygold 'baking block' shortcrust this year.

Basically used a star shaped cookie cutter to cut out (again -not good, don't try make shortcrust with masa harina & marg ) pastry stars and baked them in a mini muffin tin to be little star shaped pastry cases which I served with prawn cocktail in. It looked adorable.

You can do really awwww-ish canapés using mini muffin tins or cute silicon moulds

Maybe not so much the exact recipes here but the ideas of teeny tiny pies etc. are very cute

Animord

I have this book, an older edition, and it is great.

Lots of ideas in it.

I do all the cooking at Christmas so I go for the easier stuff, last year we had (amongst other things) smoked salmon on brown bread with a little caviar (lumpfish roe!) on top.

I put the salmon on the brown bread and then used tiny cookie cutters to cut stars and hearts out - there was a bit of waste but my ever hungry nephew ate that! They looked great on the plate.

loomk

Brown bread, slice smoked salmon with a caper on top and squeeze lemon.
Simple, can prepare in advance and always a crowd pleaser!

homemadecider

You could serve the smoked salmon on dinky little blinis with a touch of creme fraiche and a sprig of dill. Blinis can be made in advance so you'd just have to assemble them before guests arrive.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/blini-with-smoked-salmon-recipe/index.html

A savoury roulade is always an easy option as you can prepare the day before and then serve with little bite size crackers. It also looks very impressive - and hey, who doesn't like cheese?

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Cream-Cheese-and-Chutney-Roulade-MyRecipes-238914

Final suggestion is some savoury palmiers, they are like little biscuity savoury bites with whatever flavours you like. Easy to make but a bit time consuming. Again they look pretty great.

http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/savory-palmiers.html

amdublin

My deconstructed(!!!) brown bread and salmon went down a treat!

And looked great imo. Pics attached!


Deconstructed brown bread and salmon
Coquilles St Jacques (M&S)
Mini bagels with cream cheese and salmon (M&S)
Belly of pork (tescos) - cooked and cut into squares

Merkin

Well done!

amdublin

Thanks Merkin!

I cannot tell you how happy I was how it all looked and tasted

They were a great little conversation piece too!

The pork belly is a really easy one to make and everyone loves it! I cook it and then cut it into squares with a big kitchen scissors. Simples!
The coquilles st jacques were probably everyone's favourite - "moreish" apparently.
But the deconstructs went down a bomb! They were not everyone's favourite but they were very close and everyone just loved the presentation and creativity of them.

Dizzyblonde

It all looks so impressive! I bet your guests really appreciated all the effort.