The Million Canape Challenge
Well, that's what it felt like when I started out to do a canapé party for a client. 70 people, 10 different canapés (8 savoury, 2 sweet), roughly 1.5 of each kind for each person, served over a 2-hour period. That's 70 x 15 = just over 1,000 morsels. Trust me, it felt like a lot more!
When a client requests such an event, the first thing is to draw up menus for them to choose from. I evaluate the function (hopefully with a good indication of the client's profile and spending base) and offer 6 or 8 in each category (meat, fish, veggie, sweet), with a back-up list in reserve if those don't appeal.
Into the costing must be factored the time each canapé might take to prepare, and to assemble and serve, bearing in mind that a canape's size and delicacy is directly inverse to the time it takes to prepare and serve.
In this case I cannot have been thinking clearly when I pre-selected the list and my client, correctly, chose the most expensive and time-consuming mouthfuls on offer. Which had me running around like a nutter for two days before the event, and 18 hours on the day and calling on the services of my friend and experienced canapé chef Sara Lee, who stepped to help bring everything together.
It culminated in a very successful party with beautiful plates going out to receptive guests. The star of the show was the risotto balls with a truffled wild mushroom dip. It's quite a simple recipe, if time-consuming, and we were very pleased with the results: first, soak some dried wild mushrooms, drain and reserve the liquid and set aside the mushrooms. Use the liquid to make a batch of risotto the usual way. Make a filling by blitzing the soaked mushrooms with double cream, parsley and seasoning. When the risotto is cold, shape into small balls around a dollop of filling. Roll in flour, then dip in egg and coat with a mix of breadcrumb and grated parmesan. Deep fry and drain on kitchen paper. I served these warm with some of the truffled wild mushroom filling mixed with crème fraîche and mayonnaise, as a dip.
A few years ago I came up with a quail's egg in filo pastry idea as a play on the egg-and-cress sandwhich combination. I make the filo baskets using a tartlet mould; cook, peel and halve the eggs and serve with a big squeeze of fresh Hollandaise and a sprinkling of finally chopped chives, or cress. The pastry gives a good crunchy texture to the soft egg and the chives add a hint of oniony contrast. They always go down well, even with meat-eaters - even though peeling 50 or 100 quail eggs can feel like a chore!
The fish op
tions were choux buns filled with fish pâté (left) and scallops on sweetcorn fritters with a sweetcorn purée (right). For the fritters I used a Delicious magazine recipe by Lucy Williams that worked brilliantly. The purée uses tinned sweetcorn, double cream and seasoning, whizzed well and sieved into a piping bag.
Sweet canapés need to pack a punch, and these two shared the honours: one fruity, one chocolate. The raspberry millefeuille looked stunning, two layers of fine puff pastry sandwiched with crème patissiere and raspberry sauce.
The chocolate darlings on the right take full advantage of the delicious properties of The Chef Hermes Blog Chilled Chocolate fondant recipe - quick and easy to make, and versatile.
To serve these I bought crispy croustades (most supermarkets sell them in little pink boxes), which I filled with fondant, and finished off with a piped rosette of coffee cream and a chocolate coffee bean. Who can resist chocolate and coffee at the end of a meal?
These canapés will stay on my menus over the summer, as they fulfill all the criteria for entertaining: lovely to look at, and mouthfuls of pleasure.
When a client requests such an event, the first thing is to draw up menus for them to choose from. I evaluate the function (hopefully with a good indication of the client's profile and spending base) and offer 6 or 8 in each category (meat, fish, veggie, sweet), with a back-up list in reserve if those don't appeal.
Into the costing must be factored the time each canapé might take to prepare, and to assemble and serve, bearing in mind that a canape's size and delicacy is directly inverse to the time it takes to prepare and serve.
In this case I cannot have been thinking clearly when I pre-selected the list and my client, correctly, chose the most expensive and time-consuming mouthfuls on offer. Which had me running around like a nutter for two days before the event, and 18 hours on the day and calling on the services of my friend and experienced canapé chef Sara Lee, who stepped to help bring everything together.
It culminated in a very successful party with beautiful plates going out to receptive guests. The star of the show was the risotto balls with a truffled wild mushroom dip. It's quite a simple recipe, if time-consuming, and we were very pleased with the results: first, soak some dried wild mushrooms, drain and reserve the liquid and set aside the mushrooms. Use the liquid to make a batch of risotto the usual way. Make a filling by blitzing the soaked mushrooms with double cream, parsley and seasoning. When the risotto is cold, shape into small balls around a dollop of filling. Roll in flour, then dip in egg and coat with a mix of breadcrumb and grated parmesan. Deep fry and drain on kitchen paper. I served these warm with some of the truffled wild mushroom filling mixed with crème fraîche and mayonnaise, as a dip.
A few years ago I came up with a quail's egg in filo pastry idea as a play on the egg-and-cress sandwhich combination. I make the filo baskets using a tartlet mould; cook, peel and halve the eggs and serve with a big squeeze of fresh Hollandaise and a sprinkling of finally chopped chives, or cress. The pastry gives a good crunchy texture to the soft egg and the chives add a hint of oniony contrast. They always go down well, even with meat-eaters - even though peeling 50 or 100 quail eggs can feel like a chore!
The fish op
tions were choux buns filled with fish pâté (left) and scallops on sweetcorn fritters with a sweetcorn purée (right). For the fritters I used a Delicious magazine recipe by Lucy Williams that worked brilliantly. The purée uses tinned sweetcorn, double cream and seasoning, whizzed well and sieved into a piping bag.
Sweet canapés need to pack a punch, and these two shared the honours: one fruity, one chocolate. The raspberry millefeuille looked stunning, two layers of fine puff pastry sandwiched with crème patissiere and raspberry sauce.The chocolate darlings on the right take full advantage of the delicious properties of The Chef Hermes Blog Chilled Chocolate fondant recipe - quick and easy to make, and versatile.
To serve these I bought crispy croustades (most supermarkets sell them in little pink boxes), which I filled with fondant, and finished off with a piped rosette of coffee cream and a chocolate coffee bean. Who can resist chocolate and coffee at the end of a meal?
These canapés will stay on my menus over the summer, as they fulfill all the criteria for entertaining: lovely to look at, and mouthfuls of pleasure.
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