Foodie Thursday - Canapés review - Conversations through the middle

Now we are in autumn, and celebrations such as Bonfire Night and dare I say it, Christmas, are on the horizon, the publication of this recipe book is well timed.

Canapés is a cornucopia of party nibbles, savoury and sweet. It’s a great looking book, full of gorgeous photographs and it is hard backed, so it’s hardwearing, something I think is essential for a cookery title.

I’ll say it now – I love canapés. We have a tradition every Christmas Eve in our house of party food for tea. It’s decadent, rich and you can experience lots of different flavours at one go. Normally, I admit, I buy my feast from a combination of Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, but this year I’m going to have a go at cooking up a few nibbles myself.

With more than 200 recipes to choose from I’ve already marked out a few favourites, two of which I’ve reproduced in my next post, with kind permission of the publisher. I’ve chosen easy dishes, as I’m no chef and let’s face it, won’t have lots of spare time on Christmas Eve!

For the more adventurous among you there’s clams with ginger and lime butter; monkfish, pancetta and rosemary spiedini with lemon aioli; classic fish goujons; quail egg and crispy bacon croustades; sweet potato and ginger rosti with coriander pesto; smoked haddock and parsley cakes; spicy pork empanaditas with chunky avocado relish and triple chocolate biscottini with hazelnuts.

My mouth is watering.

There’s also heaps of help in the form of menus, how many canapés to allow per person, drinks to accompany the food, and presentation tips.

Professional cook and co-author of Canapés Victoria Blashford-Snell says: “Serving canapés to your guests is a fun way of showing off. It is the one time you can mix a little Asian and French together, as long as you make some considerations for taste, texture and presentation when choosing your menu.”

Roll on Christmas Eve.

Canapés by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille is published by Dorling Kindersley and costs £14.99. For more information please take a look at www.dk.com

Giveaway alert!

I have three copies of Canapés, kindly supplied by Dorling Kindersley, to give away to three lucky people. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is visit 40s Chic on Monday (15 October 2012) and leave a comment under the giveaway post.