Styling Your Christmas Table: Six Super Easy Canapes To Impress Your Guests (Edition 6)
Of all the blogs that I have written over the years (and there are a few), my annual canapé blogs are my favourite to produce. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it means I can stop panicking about having done absolutely nothing for food planning for the festive season and have my mini snack arsenal ready to go. Secondly, it is super fun to pull together - many of them I adapt from recipes I’ve made before and put my own spin on them and sometimes I use ones that I’ve been told about or read about but mostly they are all my own ‘work’. And finally and most importantly, in order to produce the blog I need to MAKE the canapés which means that I can then give them to my family under the guise of dinner so I don’t have to make anything else. Perfect, really. Everyone’s a winner.
Possibly the worst ever photograph of me ever taken with my Dad and my brother James during a pre kids round-the-table=for-seven-hours Christmas lunch.
Our Christmas this year is panning out fairly well (for now - the last minute cancelled plans of family Christmas 2020 are still sore to the heart), mostly because none of the main meal eating will be at my house and therefore the catering responsibility will not be falling on my head. Is there any better sort of Christmas than those where you are not in charge? No. No, there is not. Christmas can be quite a stressful time of year, I find. I love the run up to Christmas far more than the big day. Christmas cake for breakfast for the entirety of December, a casual box of Roses on the coffee table, a cold glass of wine every evening - I can find reasons to celebrate on every day of the week during the festive month. Even the dog feels the benefit as his B&M bargain dog snacks are upgraded to turkey whirl treats.
However, come the 25th December and we have not been short of a good family drama over the years. The first year I met Joe, he was invited to my family home for lunch, complete with cousins and extended family. This was before any of my siblings or I had had children and ‘lunch’ involved sitting around the table for at least seven hours, playing games, drinking Baileys and Amaretto out of tiny glasses whilst chain-smoking Silk Cut and debating. A lot of debating. Anyway, it was during one of these debates that Joe made an error of judgment that ranks at at least number three in the list of Worst Errors Of Judgment By A Boyfriend. He accidentally called me BY THE NAME OF AN EX GIRLFRIEND. Bearing in mind that Joe’s previous girlfriend roster included someone who had sent him a photocopied picture of her breasts via Royal Mail, this did not go down well. In fact, I need say no more about this incident except that it ended with me drunkenly and hysterically leaving the house via the front door and running down the road vowing never to see him again. The poor neighbours of The Chase didn’t know what had hit them. Sigh.
A few years later, it was Joe’s parents turn to host and once again, drama struck. Joe’s mum had purchased a holly candle wreath from a local florist and it proudly sat central stage on the dining table, glowing festively. Again, this was prior to the arrival of kids so after dinner, we left the dining room and adjourned to the living room for a fun evening of games and chat. After an hour or two, the smoke detector on the second floor of the house went off - Joe and his Dad rushed to see what was happening and the Christmas table was engulfed in flames. The seemingly innocent candle wreath had set on fire, the room was filled with smoke and the inferno reached the ceiling. Joe whipped off his (admittedly quite tight; even then I could never get his sizing right) new Christmas jumper and swung into action to put out the blaze. I know, dramatic. It goes without saying that no holly candle wreaths have passed the threshold of any Dawson family house since.
Anyway, with so many expectations of the big day, an excellent way to start is with some drama free canapés. I have said this before (every year, in fact) and I’ll say it again - canapés are the Food Of Kings. This is the sixth year I have written this blog and my ethos remains the same - if it’s not easy and stress free, it’s not on the list. This years six are no exception. I’ve gone fairly carb heavy this year, mostly because it’s much better to have something a bit more substantial when you’re drinking your Bucks Fizz and opening your presents, especially if like me you are prone to forgetting breakfast. All of these have ingredients which can be substituted with vegan or gluten free products and every one of them can be made in advance so you can whip them out Nigella style at the appropriate moment. PS: For info, I ordered nearly all the ingredients for all six recipes in one go from Asda and the whole lot came to £30. Bargain. PPS: If you’d like to take a look at my ideas from previous years, then you can read Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3, Edition 4 and Edition 5 here. And if you do decide to try out any of these recipes then please do tag me so that I can see! Happy Christmas everyone.
Turkey & Cranberry Swirls
Packet of thin sliced turkey
One tub of cream cheese
Cranberry sauce
Wild rocket
Two tortilla wraps
Put the cream cheese in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Mix until combined, then spread thinly on to the wraps. Layer the turkey on to the cream cheese, then add a thin layer of cranberry sauce to the top and finish with a layer of rocket. Roll, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for an hour. Remove and cut into slices around 3cm each.
Whipped Feta Dip with Roasted Tomatoes
One packet of feta cheese
One tub of cream cheese
A chopped garlic clove, lemon juice
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
Pitta bread
Whip out your mini blender and combine the feta, cream cheese and garlic with a dash of olive oil and seasoning. Add lemon juice to taste. Toss the cherry tomatoes in olive oil and seasoning and roast in oven for around 30 minutes until they are nice and cooked. Transfer the whipped feta to a bowl, top with the roasted tomato and the oil they cooked in and serve with toasted pitta bread cut into lengths. Yum.
Pissaladiere
Ready rolled shortcrust pastry
1 chopped onion, 1 crushed garlic
200ml tomato passata, 1 tsp dried oregano
Grated parmesan cheese
6 halved anchovies, black olives
Roll out your pastry and place on a large oiled baking sheet. Cook the onion and garlic in oil in a frying pan for about ten minutes, then add the passata and continue to cook for about five minutes until slightly reduced. Add oregano and season. Spread thinly over the pastry and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the parmesan, then leave until cooled. Cut into pieces and criss cross the anchovies, then dot with an olive. PS: If you are short of time you can substitute the home made tomato sauce with any shop bought tomato based pasta sauce to make it super easy. Credit: This recipe comes from the brilliant Canapes book, as suggested to me by the lovely Stuart Cawley.
Mini Toasties
8 pieces of medium sliced white bread, crusts removed
Dijon mustard
Packet of Serrano ham, grated cheese of choice
Basically a mini toasted cheese sandwich and you can use any sort of cheese that you have in the fridge. In fact, you could use ANYTHING with cheese inside that you liked as long as it was meltable - try spinach and cheese maybe, or pesto and cheese. Spread Dijon mustard over four of the slices. Add ham and grated cheese, season well. Place the four remaining slices on top and top with some extra cheese. Place the four sandwiches on to a baking tray and cook at 200 degrees for approximately ten minutes until the cheese is bubbling. Cut each sandwich into four with a sharp knife, sprinkle grated parmesan all over, serve and scoff.
Antipasti On A Stick
One packet of mozzarella balls
Jarred or fresh sun-dried tomatoes and green olives
Jarred green peppers
Salami or any sort of deli meat you like
Not so much a recipe as a, just stick anything you like on a stick and serve. I’ve put ideas above but you can use anything that you would usually have a on an antipasti platter. Serve it up beautifully and you’re winning. Crazily simple.
Mushroom, Shallot & Parmesan Puffs
Ready rolled puff pastry sheet
Approx 300g sliced selection of fresh mushrooms, any type
A handful of shallots, sliced and two garlic cloves, chopped
Fresh thyme and a knob of butter
Grated parmesan
Put your butter in the pan and fry the shallots, garlic and mushrooms until cooked. Unroll your puff pastry sheet and cut into 12 squares - place on an oiled baking tray and place a spoonful of mushroom mixture in the middle. Sprinkle with grated parmesan (not shown, sorry I forgot to photograph it *insert eyes to heaven emoji). Put into the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove when nicely puffed and browned, then add chopped thyme and an extra sprinkling of parmesan to decorate.
