A girlfriend threw a party at the weekend and I made some savoury mini tartlets to go with the pre-dinner drinks. Tartlets are perfect ‘blotting material’ for staying the course and look pretty too.
They’re ideal for Christmas entertaining because both filling and pastry can be made in advance. You can freeze the pastry cases too.
We eat with our eyes especially where canapés are concerned, so make sure they look as good as they taste.
As a rule of thumb, two-bites-per-canape are all you need. Invest in a miniature muffin tin (perfect for mince pies too). You’ll find them in kitchenware shops and online at Lakeland.
A little filling goes a long way – one teaspoonful is roughly enough. Keep stress to a minimum by using easy to find ingredients and fillings you can make in advance. These are the filling I made for the party:
Prawns with dill, crème fraiche & caviar
Chilli chicken with mango, lime & coriander
Asparagus with lemon hollandaise
Chicken liver parfait drizzled with Cumberland sauce
In the main, I used what was already in the fridge. For example, a cooked chicken, some leftover hollandaise – (nice cold) and the parfait, I’d made for something else I was doing. So not as impressive or complicated as it sounds. If you’ve made my chicken liver parfait you’ll know it’s easy to make anyway. The point I’m trying to get at here, is use what’s in your fridge and let your imagination run wild.
Pastry is just as important as filling. I use Cookeen because it produces a very light, crisp pastry. For perfect results, follow these simple steps and you won’t go wrong:
1) Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes before rolling – it stops shrinkage.
2) Roll the pastry out thinly – no thicker than a £1 coin.
3) Generously grease the patty tins with butter before lining with pastry.
4) Stamp out the pastry using a cutter larger than the moulds.
5) Line the cases with little tin foil pouches filled with dried pulses.
6) Bake in a hot oven 200C/Gas 6 on the top shelf for10 minutes.
7) Remove the foil pouches and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes.
8) Cool and store in airtight container or freezer until needed.
When everything’s prepped, just put it together. TOP TIP: The best way to fill soft mixtures is by using a homemade piping bag. Take a regular polythene sandwich bag, stuff it into a mug, for easy filling. Squeeze the mixture down the bag, snip off the corner and Voila!
Finish off by decorating the top with a little mock caviar or a sprig of fresh herbs and your tartlets are ready to go.
Tags: asparagus, crisp pastry
this website is shubba lubba ding dong toodles xxx
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.. I have a lot of canapes and little bites to make for a pre Christmas party rendezvous at our place before everyone leaves for a night in town. You are right, people need something as “blotting material” before they set off! Thanks for the tip about the foil pouches – brilliant idea, I shall be using that.
These tartlets look delicious, I am thinking about when I could use them over the festive period, not sure yet, but thinking!
Knowing you don’t go in for sweet things Sue, I’m doubly impressed. You won’t be disappointed, we just had some. Naughty I know but I couldn’t wait until christmas. I did manage to hold out for 3 weeks though.
Christmas Cake –
Wow ! Haven’t made a Christmas cake for years so gave your recipe a try.
I doubled up on everything to make 2 cakes. Easy peasy !!
Haven’t tasted yet of course. BUT the aroma coming out of the oven was just fantastic.
I scraped round the bowl with my finger. Brought back memories of putting my finger round the bowl as a child when Mum was making the cake.
Delicious.
So can’t wait to top up with more brandy over the next weeks before tucking in. What a success.
It all worked like clockwork – MAGIC
Thanks Uma.