A canape for the mayor

Cucumber, egg and mint

Phew, the last couple of weeks have been busy and a steep learning curve for me. I've decided to make a canape buffet for the Open Day at my charity so I've had days of try outs and preparation and then a whole weekend of fiddly fun before the day.

Goats cheese and roast asparagus puffs

Canapes are lovely to make and you can be really creative which is great but they are a bit time critical and really you need to put them together last minute and there is only so much preparing you can do beforehand. Our fridge was bursting with tupperware full of chopped bits and bobs, marinating away.

I made over 200 canapes - 7 different varieties: Pork, sage and caramalised apple skewers, basil and roast tomato mini quiche, roast asparagus and parmesan squares and the ones posted to the right.

It was incredibly enjoyable and exciting to make them and very satisfying to see the mayor of Brighton and all the other guests bite with delight into them at the Open Day....

Smoked salmon and soured cream crostinis

Mango, chillie and prawn croustades

My personal favorite were the cucumber, egg and mint canapes with a little bit of hot sauce because they were so unexpected and all the different elements came together so well while snaking them away (recipe: http://sundaynitedinner.com/). It seemed other people were a little hesitant though, guess they are for the more adventurous. I received most praise though for the goats cheese puffs (my own invention) and the mango, prawn cups (inspired by Good Food December magazine). You can buy those little cups called 'croustades' in the biscuit section of Waitrose or at Ikea. They supposedly come from Sweden even though my personal Swedish informant denies ever having heard of them. Staff at Waitrose agrees and also denies ever having heard of them so you need to find them yourself.

I definitely got enough praise to last me until my next cooking challenge - and already wonder when that might be. Maybe I can squeeze in some canapes for Christmas this year... or throw a little pre Christmas dinner party?