Aishling Moore: Entertaining at Christmas made simple with these canapé recipes
Christmas canapés by Aishling Moore. Picture: Chani Anderson.
Entertaining guests at any time of the year can be a stressful proposition, even more so at Christmas. This week, I’m sharing three simple canapé recipes that are super useful to have in your repertoire when family and friends come calling.
Devilled eggs
I couldn’t do a collection of canapés without including a retro devilled egg! You could garnish with a few slivers of anchovy or go all out and top with some caviar — though it’s always good to keep one option vegetarian when entertaining.
Servings
20Preparation Time
10 minsCooking Time
10 minsTotal Time
20 minsCourse
SideIngredients
10 medium-sized eggs
2tb mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 splash of hot sauce
Zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp smoked paprika
Method
Bring a medium-sized heavy-based pot of water to the boil.
Carefully add the eggs and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the eggs from the water and place in an ice bath to cool.
Once cooled, peel the eggs to remove the shell.
Slice the eggs in half lengthways and remove the egg yolk.
Place the egg yolks in a small bowl and whisk to form a paste.
Add the mayonnaise, mustard, hot sauce and lemon zest and mix to combine.
Season with sea salt and place this seasoned egg yolk mixture in a piping bag with a star nozzle.
Fill the hollowed-out whites of the egg with the mixture.
Sprinkle with a little smoked paprika and garnish with fresh herbs.
The buckwheat and buttermilk blini batter can be made ahead of time and cooked just before serving.
Swap the buttermilk for full-fat milk if you’d prefer. Don’t crowd the pan when cooking the blinis, cook in batches in a stainless steel or non-stick frying pan.
The eggs can be boiled and peeled a day ahead, if you’d like to get organised. The flavoured egg yolk can also be assembled ahead of time; just pipe right before serving to avoid a skin from forming.
Peel the eggs under running water to help remove the shell.
Gildas can be assembled a day ahead of serving.
