It’s party time, folks. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the holidays will soon be upon us and you’re probably getting friends or family over for a celebration. On New Year’s Eve, perhaps. This fortnight I present to you my favourite finger foods which are super easy to prepare. Tested time and again, these come out great as appetizers.
True to my trademark anthem – Minimum Effort for Maximum Effect – most of these are no-fuss recipes. You won’t find a deep-fried snack here (or puff pastry based dishes). Who’s got the time? Plus the seasonal produce is wonderful this time of year, so why not retain original flavours and textures, I ask you.
Watermelon with Feta
Seedless watermelon
Danish Feta cheese
Basil leaves for garnish
Freshly ground pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Cut up watermelon into neat bite-sized rectangles. Arrange on a white platter.
Place a basil leaf on each – keep the leaf whole or tear up.
Crumble the Danish feta and arrange on top of the leaf.
Drizzle some good quality olive oil over, allowing some to splash on the platter. Grind fresh pepper over the top.
Put into a food processor chicken, onion, yoghurt, egg white, bread soy sauce and red chilli powder. Blend till smooth. (There’s no need for salt if you’re using soy sauce, but do a taste test regardless, and add some if you feel it is needed).
Spread out spinach leaves on bench top, underside facing up. Flatten as much as possible without tearing. Spread mixture thickly over each leaf. Wet your palms and roll the leaf up gently.
In a large flat bottomed pan, bring the wine to a gently boil. Put the rolls in one by one, flap side down. Cover and cook for about ten minutes. Keep checking to see liquid does not evaporate completely. Take out and cool completely.
Slice gently into circles. To serve, put a toothpick on each, and serve with a sauce of your choice.
(You can substitute chicken stock for wine).
Cheesy Pita Bread Spikes
2 rounds pita bread
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed
¼ tsp red chilli powder
Plenty of shredded cheese
Fresh parsley, chopped
Mix garlic and red chilli powder into olive oil. Spread over the pita bread. Sprinkle cheese over, and then the parsley.
Cut into thin wedges using a pizza cutter. Gently pick each one up and arrange on lined oven tray. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 12 minutes. Super easy finger food!
Cut kransky sausages diagonally into 1-cm thick rounds. Put 1 tsp mixture onto each sausage slice and smoothen. Cook under hot grill until lightly browned.
(Best warn the guests what they’re eating. Indian vegetarian guests often mistake the red of the sausage for tomato).
For garnish Fresh herbs such as basil, mint, dill and chives
Walnut halves
Red caviar
Sliced olives
Sliced red capsicum
To prepare fillings, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in yoghurt and whisk till smooth. Put into three separate bowls. To one bowl add green pesto sauce, and to the second red pesto sauce. Keep the third bowl as is. You now have three different colours of filling.
To prepare vegetables, wash and dry. Slice tops from cherry tomatoes (take a thin slice off the bottoms too, so they can have a base to sit on). Slice cucumbers thickly (or, you can cut into thick batons and scoop the centre out to make a hole for filling). String celery and cut into 2.5 cm lengths (slice at an angle).
To prepare garnishes, wash and shake dry herbs, slice olives and capsicum thinly and cut up walnut neatly.
To assemble, arrange vegetables on platter, spoon filling over and arrange garnishes on top. Mix and match for colour, the vegetables filling and garnish – presentation is important here.
For this super easy finger food, you could even use other vegetables, such as button mushrooms: remove stalk and place on platter like a boat, and then fill in.
