FOOD PORN: Canapes... (Canapes - Treuille, Blashford-Snell)

Member Name: snowbunni

Product:	Canapes - Treuille, Blashford-Snell
Date:	15/12/05 (2046 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The Best Canapé Guide On The Market

Disadvantages: Some of the recipes can be pretty fiddly!

I was given a free copy of this sublime glutton's bible when it was first launched about five years ago, and it has subsequently become as dog-eared, damaged and well-thumbed as a copy of Everywoman in a Boy's School library. Thin trails of stale flour are wedged between the pages and faint, grubby fingerprints serve as telltale markers of my personal favourites. I suppose I fancy myself as something of an aficionado when it comes to Canapés. I've committed countless tit-bits to memory at innumerable parties, and haphazardly attempted to recreate them at home. I've miniaturised mains, fiddled with fluting bags, traipsed for miles in search of a little jar of wasabi and stuffed all of the proverbial mushrooms. But nothing has taught me more than this wonderful book. With Christmas approaching, Canapés are storming back on to the menu… So, if you love to entertain, dig out all those fiddly little implements you never normally use and prepare to impress all your guests, because this is definitely the book for you.

THE AUTHORS: Canapes is written by a Frenchman, Eric Treuille, a former award-winning Restaurant Chef and food stylist, who was apprenticed into his culinary calling at the age of 13. His co-writer is Victoria Blashford-Snell, the Cordon-Bleu trained head of a Wiltshire catering company. Between them, they display formidable flair. Treuille's knowledge of food is unimpeachable, and his stylistic flourishes are both elegant and striking, whilst Blashford-Snell's catering credentials lend a degree of pragmatism. After all, no one knows canapés like a caterer. When producing 25, 100 or even 1,000 perfect little morsels at a time, a kitchen must be transformed into an effortlessly efficient assembly line, and things kept as clear and as simple as possible.


THE BOOK: The first thing that will strike you about Canapés is the beauty of the book itself. It is a sumptuous publication, with thick, crisp, pages, and filled with gorgeously mouth-watering photography. It might easily double as a coffee-table book. There are stylish photographs of ingredients, techniques, and equipment, as well as beautifully conceived individual shots of every single recipe. The book is divided into five principal sections, which I shall address in turn.


THE INGREDIENTS covers three main sub-groups and provides an overview of most of the constituent elements in the book's recipes. Firstly, there are those cooked ingredients that can be prepared in advance, such as pastries, sauces (mayonnaise, pesto, hollandaise) and Bouchée cases. These are rather ingeniously photographed, nestled in a barely visible supermarket-style wire basket, discreetly suggesting that whilst all of these ought really to be made from scratch, there's ample room for shortcuts. Secondly, there are 'Fine Foods For Special Occasions', a decadent roll call of exotic ingredients, from Lobster and lumpfish roe, to caviar, crab claw and quail's eggs, amongst many others. Finally, there are 'Bold Flavours For Bite-Sized Morsels,' a summary of useful herbs, spices and condiments. These include Chipotes, chilli flakes and citrus zest…

THE EQUIPMENT: This section outlines a comprehensive (and slightly intimidating) selection of kitchen tools and bake ware that will prove indispensable when creating all of the book's canapés. Some of these are mere kitchen staples, such as baking sheets and vegetable peelers, but others are a little more specialised. No fewer than nine different types of pastry cutter are suggested, as well as a Stoner, a Zester, a Melon-Baller and miniature muffin trays.


THE RECIPES:

1) 'Nibbles, Dips & Dippers' are first in line, and the selection presented is much as the title suggests. Whilst arguably the least exciting of the book's selections, and including several fairly common canapé classics, such as cheese straws (referred to here, rather salubriously as 'Allumettes') a couple of recipes for sticky-looking chicken drummettes (a pet peeve of mine, in canapé terms) and three types of Palmiers, including one with parmesan & anchovies, there are also gems such as the 'Crunchy Sweet and Spicy Pecans' which are roasted in a mixture of sugar, salt and chilli powder, as well as a delectable recipe for herbed pita crisps, and several very successful dips.

2) 'Tops & Bottoms' follow, and here the book really comes into its own. These are canapés as canapés ought to be, but so rarely are; beautiful, individual, fresh and full of flavour. Best of all, they are as easy to hold on to securely as they are to pop in the mouth in one go. There are tiny shortbreads, made with parmesan or olives, and topped with Mediterranean flavours, such as honey, feta cheese and little cherry tomatoes. There are several recipes for tiny pancakes, from cocktail corn cakes, which are served with a spicy mango chutney, to buckwheat blinis with sour cream and caviar, and dainty herbed pikelets with salmon roe and crème fraiche. These are followed by an array of succulent little crostini, sweet and savoury galettes, and the most darling little miniature 'Foccacine', which are surprisingly easy to prepare, using a very simple bread dough recipe, and look tremendously impressive once assembled upon a platter. My personal favourite are the foccacines with artichoke and gorgonzola cheese, which taste absolutely divine and take no more than an hour to prepare, start to finish. Like many of the book's canapés, these can be prepared up to a day in advance, and simply warmed in the oven as needed. There are savoury croutes and miniature pizzas, tiny tatins and crispy carrot cakes, and even baked little new potatoes, topped with sour cream and salmon. Then there are grilled polentas, tostaditas and poppadoms, accompanied by stunning suggestions for adornment and topping, such as blackened snapper with peach relish and sour cream. There are teeny weeny little crab cakes, chicken cakes with coriander lime mayonnaise, and a truly scrumptious recipe for aubergine and pine nut fritters. Then there is the sweet selection, which includes meringues, fruit tatins, and miniature chocolate truffle cakes…

3) 'Sticks & Skewers' are next on the menu, and many of these are both original and visually stunning. Queen scallops are lovingly wrapped in a thin blanket of prosciutto, then pierced with a skewer, grilled, and served with a béarnaise sauce. Monkfish and pancetta are speared with a short sprig of fresh rosemary, to be dunked in a little dish of lemon aioli. Other masterful little delicacies include 'Cherubs on Horseback'; plump, dried apricots encased in a strip of bacon, skewered and grilled, and 'Prawn & Sugarcane Sticks'. These involve mincing de-veined, raw prawn flesh, mixing with spring onions, fish sauce, sugar and an array of spices, and then rolling the mixture into little balls that are then speared with a stick of sugarcane to form a sort of lollypop, and grilled. They are then served with a sweet chilli dipping sauce…Mmmm…. In addition to these and many others, there are also a number of vegetarian suggestions, such as lemon-marinated tortellini & sun-dried tomato, skewered. I'd never contemplated skewering a tortellini before, let alone marinating it in lemon, but trust me, this one works a treat.

4) 'Wraps & Rolls' showcases yet another inventive and irresistible selection of creative canapés, many of which are almost preposterously simple to prepare. Did you know that you could make the most perfect little ham & cheese croissants in just 20 minutes flat? Well you can, and all it takes is a little puff pastry… There are roulades and rolled crepes, as well as dainty, ready rolled, peking duck pancakes, belted at the centre with a little string of chive. There is an extremely useful and well-presented section on sushi rolls. Many people tend to balk at making their own sushi, but once you have all the ingredients, and a decent rolling mat, it really is simplicity itself, and the results are absolutely spectacular.

5) 'Stacks and Cases' includes filo-pastry tartlets, crammed with a delectable variety of sweet and savoury fillings, choux puffs, éclairs, croustades and clams in the shell. Tiny servings of carrot, honey and ginger soup are presented in the smallest of espresso cups, for sipping. There are tiny bouchees, and miniature burgers served in miniature buns. There are pretty sandwiches and quaint little quiches. Cherry tomatoes are cut in half, de-seeded, filled with a divine crabmeat mayonnaise and re-assembled. There are recipes for miniature muffins, scones and bagels. The bagels are especially good, and the recipe is absolutely idiot-proof, a fact I can certainly attest to, having had my fair share of debacles in the fraught sphere of yeast-cookery… The tiny bagels are sprinkled with sesame seeds, and then served much as full-sized bagels would be, filled with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Finally, there are little chocolate cups filled with flavoured mascarpone creams and fruits, and a delicious selection of little custard tartlets.


THE TECHNIQUES: This section is fairly self-explanatory, covering, firstly, all the basic procedures for making staple canapé ingredients. These consist of pastries, including the terrifying choux, sauces such as mayonnaise, hollandaise and aioli, bread dough (this section is particularly well-presented and easy to follow), meringues and creams. Then there are the tricky little techniques applied when assembling canapés to make them as beautiful as possible. These are presented, very helpfully, in step-by-step guides with useful accompanying photographs, and include such techniques as segmenting, julienning, and piping. There is also some information on the storage and freezing of baked products.


THE PARTY: Preparation is key, or so our esteemed canapé king and queen would have us believe, and frankly, who are we to argue? Prepare your menu in advance, they advise. Choose dishes suited to the time of year, allowing the season to be your guide. Never attempt a menu entirely composed of dishes you have never tried before; for this is surely a recipe for disaster. Don't overcrowd your platters. Have napkins at hand. Make sure your guests have somewhere to deposit their skewers or shells, lest they end up cluttering ashtrays or covertly stashed at the base of pot-plants…it is perhaps telling of the company I keep that this has happened to me on more than one occasion! There are several serving suggestions, which include hollowing out fruit and vegetables to create small bowls for dips, as well as complete menu suggestions for different occasions, including one comprised entirely of canapés that can be prepared in advance.


BON APETIT! This is one stunningly lovely and useful book for anyone who has the slightest interest in stylish entertaining, or even in food generally. As said, I've sought in the past to draw inspiration for my canapés from the miniaturisation of well-loved mains. In the case of this book, the process has frequently been applied in reverse! Some of these recipes are so delicious that a small serve simply won't do, and I've often contrived to turn its miniscule morsels into main-sized meals! There are plenty of suggestions, but no hard and fast rules. The most wonderful thing about this book, though, is that it inspires, showing you what can be done and leading you to pursue new and exciting ideas of your own.


Book: Hardback | 229 x 280mm | 168 pages | ISBN 1405305134 | 01 Apr 2004 | Dorling Kindersley

RRP £12.99

www.dk.com

Summary: A Mouthwatering Selection of Scrumptious Little Morsels