#8 - The Canapé Special
A bumper edition featuring recipes for lots of my favourite festive nibbles.
Hello my lovely subscribers! Welcome to your December canapé bonanza! In this month’s paid newsletter, I am going to be giving you a run down of some of my favourite nibbly bits to serve at this time of year. I am PASSIONATE about canapés (or can-apps, as I always call them); really, I think I would like all my meals to be served in this form. My mum is very much in charge of Christmas dinner, but the bit I have taken ownership of for many, many years is the nibbles we eat before. Along with LOTS of crisps, olives and dips, I will put on a lovely little spread of a few different canapés, with options for different dietaries and tastes. It is one of my favourite parts of the festive season, and I encourage you all to embrace it!
For an ordinary dinner party, I LOVE a deep fried nibbly thing, but I’m not sure Christmas day requires any more kitchen stress, so I leave big vats of oil out of it in these recipes. These are canapés that can either be prepped entirely in advance, and hastily assembled as people traipse into the house, or quickly baked, for minimum faffing and minimum stress.
The serving suggestions are generous, but if you are cooking lots of different canapés, they will no doubt stretch further than I’ve said. I love a leftovers buffet the next day in all honesty, so this isn’t a problem for me.
So, without further ado, here are some recipes that I think go down a treat on Christmas day, or a party in the run up, or even just a feast on your sofa in Betwixmas.
Smoked trout with herby scones & pickles
Anchovy, parmesan and sage biscuits
Sesame mushroom toasts (Vg)
Sticky gochujang sausages (GF option)
Endive with pickled walnuts and gorgonzola (GF)
The Recipes
Smoked Trout with Herby Scones & Pickles
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a smoked fish nibble, and I am very much leaning towards trout instead of salmon in recent years. It is much more sustainable than salmon, and with milder flavour, as well is being much brighter in colour, which is very important for a pretty canapé. You get it in many large supermarkets, or even better if you are London based, from Andrew’s Smokehouse. Andrew smokes his trout from his South London garden, and it is a stunning product. A lovely present to bring home for Christmas, I think. My mum goes crazy for it every year.
Makes about 21 scones (enough for 6-8 people)