A canape is meant to serve as a foundation for 1-2 delicious bites, consisting of perfectly combined tastes, aromas and textures. Canapes are served before dinner along with drinks but you can also have a canape party with many different kinds of delicious bites.
Foundations for the bites
Bread
Cut slices of bread, get rid of their crusts and cut their middles into squares, triangles, rhombuses or shape them with a dough cutter. All of these different shapes you can bake, fry in butter or smear lightly with oil and crisp in the oven at 370°F (190 °C) for 10 min., so they become crunchy and golden. Use different types of bread or bake small buns.
Doughs
Use the following methods for making dough foundations.
Steamed dough: spray out little buns onto a moistened oven tray.
Pancake dough: scoop from the dough with a tablespoon and fry 1 min. on each side
Yorkshire pudding: make mini puddings.
Vegetables
Cut diagonal slices from thick zucchini and large carrots or cut boiled potatoes and young turnips into thick slices.
Decorations and fillings for bites
- Put thin slices of pork and apple sauce in little Yorkshire puddings. Decorate with watercress.
- Put thin slices of roast beef, 1 teaspoon of meat sauce and a little horseradish sauce in little Yorkshire puddings.
- Put slices of medium roasted lamb in Yorkshire puddings and a little blackcurrant jelly on top.
- Combine slices of tomatoes, a little chopped lettuce and sauces with small buns and homemade meatballs.
- Spray beaten caviar with a pastry bag into small steamed dough buns that have been carved out, decorate with dill. Serve with different colored peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and carrots. Decorate with watercress.
- Fill baked dough boats with finely chopped chicken and feta cheese sauce. Decorate with green grapes and parsley.
- Fill raw, round tartlet forms made from butter dough with a mixture of crumbled Stilton cheese and a thick cream and bake at 390°F (200 °C) for 10-15 min. until they turn golden and puff up.
- Make a bed of sauteed leeks and chopped bacon in baked dough forms and decorate with a hard-boiled egg.
Stuffed Vegetables
Stuffed Tomatoes
Cut off the tops of pale red tomatoes and remove their insides. Fill them with cream cheese and chopped fresh basil.
Stuffed Potatoes
Make a crosscut onto small, boiled, young potatoes and open it up. Put 1 tbsp of sour cream and a little chopped onion into each potato.
Stuffed Cucumbers
Cut off 1" long pieces of cucumbers, dig out a little of their insides and stuff with Tartar sauce and boiled shrimp. Decorate with dill stalks.
