Tom Kerridge’s Perfect Festive Canapes

Take the stress out of festive entertaining with Tom Kerridge’s tasty, easy-to-make Christmas canapes

It’s under a month until Christmas, which means plenty of festive gatherings are on the horizon. If you’re thinking of holding one yourself, chances are you’re wondering about what food to serve.

According to Carrs, who polled 2000 people across the UK, 44% of Brits find it too time consuming to cook for guests over the Christmas period, spending around 2 and a half hours on average in the kitchen.

One of the difficulties is finding something that everyone will like. Not only are there different diets, but expert opinion has it that different personality types like different flavour profiles.

What do you do in this situation? Answer: get the wonderful Tom Kerridge to come up with five easy canapé suggestions, each of which caters to a different personality type!

The Sensualist

Flavours: ripe, soft cheese with truffle, honey and thyme

Ingredients:

1 Vacherin style cheese - we used camembert as it is readily available * 4 tsp truffle or cep paste * 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves * 3 tbsp runny honey* 4 Paris brown mushrooms grated* 8 Carr’s Melts Cheese Biscuits

Method:

1. Slice the cheese into eight thick wedges and lay on the Carr’s Melts Cheese Biscuits

2. Top off each cheese wedge with a smear of truffle paste, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of thyme

3. Finally, grate over the Paris brown mushrooms and serve

The Achiever

Flavours: Cured Mackerel with Beetroot Slaw

Ingredients:

4 mackerel fillets * 1 tsp sea salt * 1 lime, zested and juiced * 1 lemon, zested and juiced * ½ orange zested and juiced * 4 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil * 1 star anise crushed to a fine powder * 1 medium beetroot* 4 spring onions finely sliced * ½ lemon * 4 tsp cold pressed rapeseed mayonnaise * 8 Carr’s Melts Warm Chilli Flavour Biscuit

Method:

1. Mix the salt, zests, juice, oil and star anise in a deep sided tray

2. Lay the fillets skin side down and baste a little with the mix

3. Leave to cure for 10 minutes

4. While the mackerel is curing, peel and grate the beetroot with a fine grater and stir in the spring onions and half a lemon of juice to create a raw slaw

5. Remove the mackerel from the cure, slice in half lengthways, and transfer to an oven tray

6. Cook the mackerel with a blowtorch until the skin is black and the fish is cooked

7. To serve, spoon mayo onto the crackers and then top off with the slaw

8. Place the cooked fish on top of the slaw

9. Serve whilst the fish has a little warmth to it

The Romantic

Flavours: Teetotal Tiramisu

Ingredients:

180g mascarpone * 100g cream cheese * 1 vanilla pod halved and seeds scraped out* 1 splash of espresso* 70g caster sugar * 60g raisins

1 mug of black coffee

50g 70% dark chocolate for grating

1 tub of silver sugar balls

2 tbsp cocoa powder

8 Carr’s Digestives (included in the Carr’s Selection Box)

Method:

1. For the tiramisu base simply add the mascarpone, cream cheese, vanilla seeds espresso and sugar into a blender

2. Blitz to a smooth cheesecake-like topping and keep to one side

3. For the raisins, bring the coffee up to the boil and drop the raisins in to swell in the hot coffee and then leave to cool

4. Spoon the cream cheese mix onto the crackers

5. Press a teaspoon into the top of the cream cheese base to make a well

6. Spoon the soaked raisins into each well

7. Finally, dust over with the cocoa and loads of grated chocolate and sprinkle on the silver sugar balls

The Adventurer

Flavours: Anchovies with red onion marmalade, black olive tapenade and thyme

Ingredients:

1 tsp black olive tapenade* 8 tbsp onion marmalade * 1 large tin of good quality anchovies* 1 tsp picked thyme leaves* 1 small wedge of parmesan* 8 Carr’s Multigrain Crackers (included in the Carr’s Selection Box)

Method

1. Spread each cracker with tapenade and then with the onion jam

2. Lay on loads of the anchovies and sprinkle with thyme leaves

3. Finally, grate over some parmesan on a fine side of the grater and serve

The Extrovert

Flavours: beef tartare with caviar, juniper, chestnuts and horseradish cream

Ingredients:

300g fillet steak* 3 tsp capers* 1 banana shallots peeled and diced

Pinch of crushed juniper * ¼ tsp chopped rosemary* 1 tsp horseradish cream* 1 tsp Dijon mustard * 1 jar of caviar (whatever you have)* 1 knob of peeled horseradish* 4 cooked chestnuts * 8 Large Carr’s Large Table Water Biscuits

Method:

1. Dice the steak and place in a bowl

2. Stir in all of the other items except for the caviar, then season with salt and black pepper

3. Spoon the tartare mix onto the crackers and top off with caviar

4. Microplane grate the chestnuts and horseradish on top and serve