Tuesday 8 October 2013

Some More Little Tasty Morsels - Canapés Part 2

Morning All!

I told you, you wouldn't have to wait long for round 2, and here it is! Now where did I get too...

Ooo yes, those yummy steak wraps. These perhaps take the longest but only because of the tomatoes, slow roasted means exactly that, so they are your first job. Pre heat your oven to 100c and take your plum tomatoes to cut off the 'cheeks'. You can get 3 out of a tomato, and the idea is to cut down the stem to get the flesh of the tomato and try to get uniform slices. Place them on a baking tray and cover in a mix of sugar salt and pepper, going heavier on the sugar to get them really nicely caramelised.
Pop them in the low oven for at least 2 hours.


Slow roasting them at a low temperature makes them sweetly caramelise and shrink down so you don't have to worry about them not fitting in the steak slices. 

They come out looking a bit like so...


Whilst these are roasting you can crack on with all the other things, you can get a lot done in 2 hours. Rub the steak in salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil, you need to make sure you have a thick enough steak as the slices are going to make up the canapé. Now get a frying pan searing hot, to cook steak a frying pan must be super super hot, as it sears the steak rather than cooks it and you get that glorious browned outside thats filled with all the flavour. 


Chuck the steak in and cook for roughly 31/2 mins either side. This will leave the steak fabulously medium rare (which isn't how mine are because I over cooked the steak, a crime that is unforgivable in my kitchen, I shed a tear for the ruined steak). Take out the pan and leave to rest, as you need the steak to be cool in the end you can rest it for as long as you want. Resting allows the meat to relax after being cooked and therefore retain all the juices. When a steak bleeds everywhere or you get a lot of juice out of it, you haven't rested it long enough. Slice into thin slices and place to one side. 

Once the tomatoes and steak is cold place a tomato on each steak slice and a rocket leaf and roll up. Secure with a cocktail stick. 


You'll end up with something that looks a bit like the above. 

On to the next: Chorizo cups with cherry tomatoes and burrata. 

Burrata is a recent discovery of mine and I'm sad I went for so many years without it in my life. It's like mozzarella's older, better grown-up cousin and it's divine. You can get it in little black pots from Waitrose, or any good cheese shop. 

Chorizo cups are a good alternative to a bread base, which a lot of canapés can be and they are super quick and simple. Take a packet of ready sliced chorizo and press into tiny muffin tins, making sure you have a flat bottom and taking care not to put any holes in it with your fingers. 


Then put in a medium oven, around 180c and bake for 5 mins. 

They should come out something like this. 


You don't want much colour on them as although a crispy cup would be nice, they shrink a lot and leave less room for fillings. 
Take them out of the tin and place them upside down on kitchen towel to drain the fat and to cool. 

Quarter some cherry tomatoes and de-seed them. This seems fiddley but the seeds will make the tomatoes too wet and burrata is quite creamy anyway so the whole thing would just be too soggy. Cut this into even smaller pieces and leave out to dry a little. 


Drain the buratta and cut it open, slice some basil and your ready to assemble. 


Fill the cups with a some tomatoes and then a piece of burrata and top with basil and some cracked black pepper. Done. 



Now on to the final hot canapé. The tiny jacket potatoes. This really are amazing mouthfuls of yum and incredibly easy. 

Get a bag of baby new potatoes and rub them all over with olive oil, salt and a little pepper. Grab a baking tray and throw them in a 180c oven for an hour. Give them a shake every now and then to make sure they aren't sticking and are browning all over. 


In the mean time, grab your sour cream and chives. Pour the sour cream into a little bowl and finely chop your chives. Mix the chives into the sour cream with a little salt and pepper and voila. Done. 

When your potatoes come out they should look a little like this...


Again try not to eat them. 

Leave them to cool for about 5 mins so you don't burn your fingers then make a little cross on top, just as you would a jacket potato. The dollop of little of the sour cream and chives into that little cross. Top with some more chives and your done. How simple is that?! They are a winner too, everyone dived on these as they came up. Easy to pop into the mouth as well with minimal mess! 


There you have it, some simple easy canapés that will fill people up and leave them talking about them long after they leave the party. If you wanted to decrease the cost and go a little more veggie you could swap the steak slices for slices of roasted aubergine! Same concept but cheaper. Give it a try and let me know what you think!! 






































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