Canapé Spreads

Amuse Your Mouth



Today marks the launch of a re-designed Web site dedicated to food bloggers and tomorrow, in honor of the event, food bloggers around the world are participating in a virtual party. I decided to make munchies for the party.

I've mentioned elsewhere that my parents frequently entertained while I was growing up. These events included dinner parties, grill parties, and cocktail parties. Most of what they served at the parties we also had for family meals -- at least in part or in some form. The exception was the hors d'oeuvres they made for cocktail parties.

I remember a few specific examples such as crudités with fancy dips and smoked oysters. But, without remembering details, I remember being particularly intrigued with the canapés. Little bytes. Sometimes very good and sometimes (to my untrained palate) not so good.

Although I've never had a cocktail party, I've always made some sort of hor d'ouvres for my dinner parties. A little something to get the salivary glands going in preparation for the feast.

On my first visit to Europe (in 1970) I discovered tubes of ham and cheese spread. I loved the stuff and could have eaten a couple of tubes at once with a loaf of bread. Then, on a trip to Spain in 1998, I found them again. On returning to the states I set out to duplicate that hammy-cheesy goodness and came up with this:

Prosciutto & Cheese

4 oz goat cheese -- softened
3 ea very thin prosciutto slices

Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add ham and cook on each side for about 20 seconds -- the ham should just begin to draw up.

Mince ham in a food processor. Add cheese and process until smooth.

On one of my visits to Copia in Napa I bought a jar of Artichoke Tapinade. Seriously good stuff but at a seriously unreasonable price. So I came up with my own version.

Artichoke Tapinade

12 ea artichoke hearts -- quartered
1/2 c green olives -- pitted
1 ea shallot -- coarsely chopped
2 ea garlic cloves -- coarsely chopped
1 ea lemon -- grated rind only
1/2 c olive oil
1 tbsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper -- to taste

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Allow flavors to meld for at least four hours. Taste and adjust seasonings (Note: the olive oil should add a noticable flavor note. Use generously.)

The theme of the launch party is beer. Participants were challenged to either cook with beer or fix something good to eat with beer. That led me to fix dilled beer bread and, in honor of the occasion, I came up with one more spread that I thought would round out my amuse bouche offerings and go well with the bread.

Feta, Basil, & Tomato Spread

4 oz feta cheese -- crumbled
1/4 c loosely packed basil leaves
2 tbsp minced dried tomatoes
1 sm clove garlic -- chopped
1 tsp ground black pepper
olive oil

Process basil in a food processor until finely chopped. Add feta, garlic, tomato, and black pepper and process adding olive oil as needed until the mixture is spreadable. Allow to rest for at least a couple of hours at room temperature before serving.

These were made for a party featuring beer -- and so tend to be on the salty side. And if you want something easy and homemade to serve them on I recommend this beer bread.