Canapes with smoked salmon

Canapes to go - Part 5.

Ingredients (serves 8):
8 slices smoked salmon
4 tbsp cream cheese spread with chives
Shaved honey baked ham
Fresh chives, to garnish

Method:
1. In each pastry case, place 1 slice of smoked salmon and 1 tsp of cream cheese spread. Repeat for the rest of the pastry cases.
2. Garnish with fresh chives.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Canapes with cream of escargot

Canapes to go - Part 4.

Ingredients (serves 8):
1 can Wong Coco Escargots in chilli and garlic sauce (from Cold Storage)
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp thick cream

Method:
1. Heat the escargots in a pan and stir in the lime juice and thick cream.
2. Spoon them into the baked pastry cups.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Canapes with honey baked ham

Canapes to go - Part 3.

Ingredients (serves 8):
4 tbsp cream cheese spread with chives
200g honey baked ham
Cracked black pepper

Method:
1. In each pastry case, spoon in 1 tsp of cream cheese spread and a sliver of shaved ham on top. Repeat for the rest of the pastry cases.
2. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Canapes with egg mayonnaise

Canapes to go - Part 2.

Ingredients (serves 8):
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp thick cream, whipped
2 tsp lime juice
3 tbsp Mezzetta Roasted Bell Peppers (from Cold Storage)
4 quail eggs, hardboiled, shelled and halved

Method:
1. Stir the mayonnaise, thick cream and lime juice together.
2. Spoon the mixture into baked pastry cups, then top with bell peppers and quail eggs.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Canapes with berry topping with lemon cream

Use either pastry cases or toast as canape bases.

Bake ready-made pastry cases (try Jus Rol Medium Size Pastry Cases, which comes in a box of 18) according to the instructions.

For toast, cut white bread with cookie cutters, spray with cooking spray and toast in the oven till crisp.



Canapes to go - Part 1.

Ingredients (serves 8):
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp icing sugar
3 tbsp whipping cream
60g fresh blueberries
60g fresh raspberries
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:
1. Add the lemon juice and icing sugar to the whipping cream and whisk until stiff.
2. Leave it in the freezer to chill for 1 hour.
3. Spoon the lemon cream into the pastry cups and spread on toast. Add raspberries to the pastry cases and blueberries to the toast.
4. Dust some icing sugar on top before serving.

Tips:
Pastry case canapes can be prepared just before guests arrive, but assemble the ones on toast just before serving as they get soggy faster.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Holy berry

Make five-course christmas dinner in 2 hours - Part 5.

Ingredients (serves 4):
500ml cranberry juice
1 can 7-Up
8 scoops vanilla ice cream
12 raspberries
8 mint leaves

Method:
1. Blend cranberry juice, 7-Up and ice cream in a blender on high speed.
2. Serve in tall glasses, topped with fresh raspberries and a mint leaf.

Tips:
For an adult version, add raspberry liqueur or vodka.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)

Lemon roulade with raspberry sauce

Make five-course christmas dinner in 2 hours - Part 4.

Ingredients (serves 4):
Lemon cream:
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp custard powder (add a little water to dissolve)
2 tbsp caster sugar

Sponge cake:
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
125g cake flour

Raspberry sauce:
200g fresh raspberries
2 tbsp raspberry jam
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Snow powder, for garnishing

Method:
1. Whisk all the lemon cream ingredients together until it becomes thick and foamy. Chill.
2. To make the sponge cake, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until it becomes a pale yellow.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold the vanilla essence and lemon juice into the egg-yolk mixture.
4. Sift the flour into the mixture and fold it in. Gently fold in egg whites.
5. Line a shallow 30cm by 20cm baking tin with baking parchment and pour in the mixture.
6. Bake in a preheated 175 deg C oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn the cake over on a wire rack and remove the parchment. Leave to cool.
7. To make the raspberry sauce, blend all the sauce ingredients in a blender.
8. To assemble, spread the lemon cream on the sponge cake. Roll the cake and cut into 4 pieces. Dust each serving with snow powder and top with raspberry sauce.

Tips:
Snow powder is very fine powdered sugar found in speciality baking stores like Phoon Huat. It sticks better to food compared to icing sugar.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Dec 2007)