Finger Food - Assorted Mini Toasts
History:
Just one last cooking session before I start work! An attempt to enjoy one of those simple pleasures in life ... Anyway, this recipe is very easy and versatile, feel free to substitute and experiment! I made enough for 5, and this took a mere 1.5 hours. Excellent for parties, and to brighten up sunday afternoons, together with a hot cup of Earl Grey or hot honeyed lemonade.
Ingredients:
Mini Toasts (available at Cold Storage)
Cream cheese
Pig liver pate (tinned)
Mint jelly
Smoked salmon
Black olives (tinned, sliced)
Streaky bacon
Shrimps
Baby button mushrooms (fresh)
Fresh thyme
Fresh oregano
Fresh spearmint
Ebiko (shrimp roe, available at Japanese grocery stores)
The method:
- Prepare the shrimp by de-shelling, and boiling it till tender. Drain and chill in fridge.
- Prepare bacon by pan-frying till crisp, then crumble with fingers.
- Wash mushrooms, remove stalks and slice thinly. Add to a pan with butter and saute till soft, with a pinch of salt.
- Spread mini toasts with a generous layer of cream cheese.
Arrange 1 shrimp per mini toast, spread ebiko around the shrimp and top with just a touch of bacon.
Pate, bacon & oregano
Spread pate over half of the mini toast, arrange bacon crumbs on other half and garnish with 1 single oregano leaf. Be very careful with this one - it's the most savoury-tasting, and yet can turn out very wrong if any of the ingredients are overpowered.
Mushroom & thyme
1 heaping teaspoon of mushroom slices per mini toast, and a small sprig of thyme for that extra zest.
Minty salmon
This one is very, very interesting and complex. Mind you get the right mix of salmon vs flavouring so neither gets overpowered! Roll up a large piece of smoked salmon and place on the mini toast, such that it takes up about half of the toast. Place a slice of mint jelly next to it, taking up approximately a quarter of the toast, and garnish with 1 single fresh mint leaf. If you'd rather be less adventurous in pairing mint with salmon, it can also easily be replaced with fresh dill. Be extremely careful with dill - a little goes a very long way!
