Croustade Canapes

[Barmaid]

Well the big countdown starts to Wedding of the Year.

In a vague effort to make it slightly more upmarket, I bought 96 of those little croustade cases from Waitrose - having not really thought this through they are now sitting on top of the freezer asking me to come up with something nice to fill them with (and bear in mind I wont have too much time).

Any ideas?

So far my possibilities are:

Avocado and lime with prawns
Indian salad (onion, carrot, cucumber with toasted fennel and sesame seeds topped with mango)
Goats cheese and red onion marmalade

None of which really float my boat. Cant be anything too "out there" though.......

(Anyone mentioning primula or fish paste will be immediately reported to the Food Police and beaten with a limp bit of celery).

[EcclesCake]

They do go soggy so I would suggest you prepare a filling that can be quickly inserted at the last minute.

Avovado unless purreed with lots of lemon or lime juice will discolour.

goats cheese and marmalade sounds good.

herby cheese like rouille with some finely chopped peppadews and some chives could be good. Although it is a second cheese option.

Tuna blended with lemon juice, zest, capers and olive oil is quite tasty in a Peppadew so no reason why it wouldn't work in a croustade.

A soft smooth pâté with an adornment?

Whatever you do I suggest you fill four disposable piping bags that can be quickly squeezed into the croustade s and have four garnishes to hand.

Don't prepare too far in advance.

There's also Heinz veg salad in tins..........

[237SJ]

I quite like that selection. Homemade smoked mackerel pate or cheese and prosciutto?

[EcclesCake]

Dull as ditchwater, but how about egg mayo with chives.....good way of dealing with the egg mountain?

Some sort of hummus? Perhaps a carrot hummus so that it isn't all beige?

[EcclesCake]

Indian salad is a crap idea. You'll be cursing from here to Christmas while you try to spoon it in.

[Mamyalynne]

Horseradish Cream with slivers of rare beef.

[EcclesCake]

Smoked salmon pâté.....cheat version. Salmon, cream cheese lemon juice, paprika and horseradish if you fancy.

[EcclesCake]

tapenade and a piece of mozzarella and/or cherry tomato.

[Barmaid]

Right thank you! Some lovely ideas (apart from the tinned Heinz salad which just about qualifies for a celery whipping).

According to the instructions (!) if I brush (or my sous Chef....) brushes with some melted butter, they should stay crisp for a bit longer. I have to deliver the food by 1.30 so I am ready to leave for church by 2.30 and we will serve about 4.30. I might open a packet and do a test run to see how long they stay crisp.

Egg wont do - we've got egg finger rolls. I dont have much of an egg mountain now and I lost Maggie Chook on Monday :(((((((

The avocado mix I made had so much lime juice in it, it kept perfectly for about 3 days.

I like the herby cheese idea.

As for pate - 3 brilliant ideas there! I have some homemade chicken liver pate and smoked mackerel pate in the freezer. I was going to spread it on oatcakes, but this sounds like a better option. I fancy cheats smoked salmon too.

We are having beef sarnies Mamy - so whilst I like that as an idea, we'll be doubling up on the beef.

Ta folks.

[EcclesCake]

I'm going off the idea of having celery in my salad this evening.........I think it will taste like birch.......

[jennyjoan]

smoked fish with cream cheese

[EcclesCake]

Sorry about Maggie :-(

I've told the girls, they're tucking into some bean sprouts and contemplating the loss to chickenkind.

[boxtops]

I put on the other thread before I saw this one - Brie and grapes....

[boxtops]

BTW - I had an interesting starter on holiday - deep fried battered cauliflower florets, with a beer and cheese dip. Not necessarily right for the wedding, but it was an interesting experience!

[chokkie]

go back into waitrose and get some peeled quails eggs (in the chiller). Say for 24 of the croustades get 12 eggs and halve them. Also buy a couple of pots of Waitrose's ready made hollandaise sauce. Buy some baby leaf spinach, stick it in a colander, pour hot water over until it wilts, allow to cool and chop medium finely (but make sure you drain the spinach thoroughly. Then place all your croustade cases on a baking tray, heat the oven to "medium". Put a blob of chopped spinach in the bottom, then half a quails egg, and then a blob of the hollandaise sauce. Put the filled cases in the oven and allow them to heat through (until the hollandaise is bubbly) and then serve slightly cooled. this is a Mary Berry recipe and absolutely wonderful. Have done this several times for guests. And a doddle with all the ingredients ready made from Waitrose. But recommend the peeled quail's eggs - they are pain to peel yourself, let Waitrose do all the work! Oh, and you can do the spinach stage ahead of time, so that you can just assemble them and stick in the oven as your guests arrive. enjoy! Chox.

[hundreddolla]

Those crustades go soggy as soon as you look at them. Literally five minutes into having anything moist in them they'll be like mush.