We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed lots of lovely food, laughter and great gifts with your family and friends! We’re still recovering from a superb Christmas dinner, but the celebrations aren’t over yet and we’re now looking forward to New Years Eve! So today we have a couple of canapés for you that are simple to make, professional-looking and absolutely delicious. Choose from crab, chilli and lime or prawn and asian slaw tartlets - both so light and tasty, you might have to pull your guests away from the table (we’re talking from experience here! See our crab tartlets photographed with the recipe below and head to the bottom of this post to see the rest of our party-perfect spread!)
This week's recipes are from the fantastic new book, Party-perfect Bites by Milli Taylor, full of ideas for stylish party snacks that will ensure you're always the hostess with the mostess! Milli is going to be on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch this weekend, sharing a selection of the delicious recipes from the book, so make sure you tune in for some more ideas!
Crab, chilli & lime filo tartlet
3 sheets of filo/phyllo pastry (about 135 g/4 ¾ oz.)
100 g/1 stick minus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Crab filling
400 g/1 ¾ cups fresh, cooked white crabmeat
5 spring onions/scallions
10 g/ ½ cup fresh coriander/cilantro
2 red chillies/chiles, deseeded
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes
Tabasco sauce, to season (optional)
12-hole muffin pan, buttered
Makes 40
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
Stack the filo/phyllo sheets in a pile and use a sharp knife to cut them into 40 6-cm/2 ½ -in. squares, each of which will have 3 layers of pastry.
Keeping all other filo/phyllo squares covered with clingfilm/plastic wrap to prevent them drying out, take one set of 3 three squares. Lay one square onto a chopping board and brush lightly with melted butter. Top with a second square, offset to allow corners to show.
Brush lightly with melted butter and repeat with the final square.
Gently press the layered pastry into the hole of the muffin pan and repeat to fill the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8–10 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and store in an airtight container until required. Repeat with the remaining pastry.
To make the crab filling, drain the crabmeat and place in a bowl.
Chop the spring onions/scallions, coriander/cilantro and chillies/chiles very finely. Mix with the mayonnaise and season with lime juice, Tabasco, salt and white pepper.
Fill each tart with the crab filling and serve immediately.
Asian slaw & prawn tartlets
¼ red cabbage
¼ white cabbage
1 Gala apple, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled
1 spring onion/scallion
1 fresh red chilli/chile, deseeded
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sour cream or mayonnaise
17 cooked and shelled prawns/shrimp
34 filo/phyllo baskets (see above)
For the dressing
2 limes
1 teaspoon caster/granulated sugar
3 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Makes 34
Mix all of the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Set aside.
Either using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice the red cabbage very finely and place in a bowl. Shred the white cabbage, apple, carrot, spring onion/ scallion and chilli/chile in the same way and place in a separate bowl.
Season both bowls with 1/2 teaspoon salt and mix well. Add half the dressing to one bowl and the other half to the second bowl, let sit for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.
Drain the vegetables and mix together just before serving so that the red cabbage doesn’t turn everything pink. Add the sour cream.
Spoon a little slaw into each filo/phyllo basket and top with half a prawn/shrimp. You can pinch the ends of the prawns/shrimp together to add height.
We had such fun making the crab tartlets and some of the other recipes from Milli’s book (and very much enjoyed eating them with a glass of mulled wine!) Our table spread included a tasty selection of savoury and sweet canapés; cayenne and cheddar biscuits, artichoke, mozeralla & speck, and malaysian coconut pancakes, as well as some delicious dips; tzatziki, roast carrot, ginger & miso dip, and black bean hummus.
We hope you have some time to relax over the weekend and have a fantastic New Year!
For more canape recipes perfect for the holiday season, check out Party-Perfect Bites by Milli Taylor.