Category: Canapés/nibbles

Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake)

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I guess for non-Swedish people, this dish seems a bit bizarre. It is a cake made with bread and savoury fillings, and in my opinion really yummy.

It is quite old school but seems to have a revival at the moment. But this is something my grandparents when they were old, would buy from the bakery and serve at a daytime birthday party so they wouldn’t have to cook themselves. Followed by a creamy cake you certainly feel full afterwards, but it is nice at the same time. It is also popular for graduations and funerals or other gatherings.

I like mine moist but not too gooey, and with only small bits in the filling. Some put peas or corn to fill it out but I don’t like that.

This cake is a meat version containing ham and brussels paté, but a fish-seafood version is equally popular with prawns, tinned tuna and smoked salmon.

Since this was my first Smörgåstårta ever that I made myself, it is of course not perfect. If I made it again, I would place filling 1 on top and filling 3 at the bottom, and try to decorate it nicer. But for a first attempt I am more than pleased, and most important of all – it was really tasty!



Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake), serves 4

12 slices white bread, edges removed (4 slices in 3 layers)

Filling #1:

100 ml creme fraiche

50 ml mayonnaise

5 cm thinly sliced cucumber

2 sliced baby leeks

3 slices chopped smoked ham

Filling #2:

200 g mascarpone

4-5 sunblush tomatoes, finely chopped

finely chopped basil

1/2 chopped red onion

Filling #3:

150 g cream cheese

lbrussels paté after taste

5 finely chopped cornichons

Filling #4 (around the cake): same as filling #1 but without the ham

Decorations on top:

2 slices nice smoked ham

tomato wedges

cucumber slices

small pickled onions

cornichons

NYE 2010 – the canapés

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

2011 is already here! I started this year with an egg and bacon breakfast and a 3 hour nap. Think I needed both!

New Year’s Eve was a real good night. David and Gaby came around for a delicious meal and then we split up to go to different parties.

When they arrived we had some bubbly, Taittinger NV Brut, and canapés. I am thrilled that Waitrose has Swedish crustades to buy. They are crispy and thin and nice to fill with whatever you can think of. I came up with two fillings that really works!

Wait to put the filling into the crustades when you’re guests has arrived, otherwise they can go soggy. We had about 4 canapés of each kind each, but it is difficult to know how many to make, it depends on how hungry the people are.

Crustades with basil cream cheese, tapenade and tomato

Crustades

Philadelphia

Fresh basil

Black tapenade

Sunblush tomatoes

Chop the basil and mix with the cream cheese. Place a dollop of this in each crustade. Add a dollop of tapenade and half a tomato wedge.

Crustades with serrano ham, goat’s cheese and crema di balsamico

Crustades

Serrano ham

Creamy goat’s cheese

Crema di balsamico

Cut a ham slice in three. Roll each piece and stand it up in a crustade. Add a piece of goat’s cheese and let it melt in a 200C oven for 5 mins. Add some crema di balsamico.

Prawn sandwich Swedish style

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Sometimes easy is good. Like this sandwich for example. It is important to choose nice bread, a good mayo (homemade or Hellman’s), nice Icelandic prawns, and to boil the eggs exactly the way you want them (I want mine with the yolk very yellow and quite soft). And if you pipe the mayonnaise onto the eggs, it looks really pretty too. Yum!

Prawn sandwich, serves 2

1 nice baguette or ciabatta

butter

4 little gem leaves

3 boiled eggs (they way you like)

lots of mayonnaise

150-200 g peeled Icelandic prawns

red onions, cut in half and sliced

lemon

Cut the bread in half and spread on some butter. Place the rinsed and dried lettuce on top. Peel and slice the eggs and divide them between the two sandwiches, pipe lots of mayonnaise on top. Scatter the prawns on top. Sprinkle on some red onions and decorate with lemon.

Chèvretoast with fresh figs

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Sometimes simple things are the best, like on a Tuesday evening when you’re having your old housemate over for dinner. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just plain nice and tasty. That is when you make a chèvretoast. There isn’t much cooking involved, but the result is still really nice.

Chèvretoast with figs, serves 2

2 slices of nice bread

2, 1 cm thick slices of chèvre

2 figs, quartered

olive oil

1 clove of garlic

black pepper

crema di balsamico

Put the bread slices on a baking sheet and pour a little olive oil on each. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the edge against the bread and the oil. Toast the bread in 200C until it is crispy. Place the chèvre on top of the bread slices, and place the quartered figs on top. Sprinkle over some black pepper and bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is soft. Plate, coil over some crema di balsamico and enjoy!

‘Plock’ as a starter

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Remember the Swedish word plock? Basically serving different bits as a meal or a starter, not quite tapas but something similar. I like to eat plock a lot and think it is a good way to clear out the fridge as well. This is what we had before the lamb on Sunday:

From the top:

Somerset gold -Christopher’s new favourite

Prosciutto, served with crema di balsamico – yum!

Ossau-Iraty – my new favourite cheese

Small chorizos

Matured Gouda with cumin – from Borough Market

 

Stuffed mushrooms with ricotta

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I have tried this Jamie Oliver recipe twice and really like it as a casual canapé. The first time I followed the recipe but had to use fresh thyme instead of oregano as the supermarket in Sweden didn’t have any oregano. It was still delicious! Yesterday I used chilli flakes and dried oregano and that worked well too. Both times I have used chestnut mushrooms but they don’t taste much, so I think it would be even better with a more flavoursome mushroom.

Baked camembert

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I eat this a lot. Maybe too often, but it is so good I just can’t help it… 🙂 Usually I serve it with some other finger foods and some nice bread.

Baked camembert, as a starter for 4 or as a lighter supper served with other bits for 2-3 people

Take a large camembert, preferably one in a wooden box, remove the wrapping and place it into the bottom half of the wooden box. Score the top with a knife, and put in 200C oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese is all runny and yummy. I sometimes put a splash of white wine and some pressed garlic into the grooves but I honestly don’t notice much of a difference with or without it. The most important thing is to choose a good piece of cheese. Serve with some nice fresh bread, maybe salami and gherkins.

 

Finger food platter

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

In Sweden we like to eat plockmat, lots of different little bits for dinner with some nice bread with it. After our big lunch out on Sunday we couldn’t really think much about food that afternoon, we were too full, so I improvised a plock plate even though the fridge was quite empty. This is the result:

Plock plate, 3 portions

1 packet Swedish smoked sausages (or Frankfurters)

12 crustades (you find them at Waitrose and they are actually imported from Sweden)

Swedish cream cheese with girolles (or use brie)

Strawberries

Small gherkins or cornichons

Fru the sausages in some butter and cut them into pieces. Put a bit of cheese into each crustade, pu them into a 200C oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese has melted and the crustades are a bit browner (but not too brown). If you used brie, put a small dollop of jam (apricot, gooseberry, pear, fig…) into the crustades when they come out of the oven. Put everything on a plate together with the strawberries and gherkins. Serve with bread and balsamico glaze (for the sausages). We also had a baked camembert, which will get its own post.

Parma parcels, fresh figs and crema di balsamico

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I love to eat tapas-style food, without it having to be Spanish food at all. Sharing plates of food with friends makes me happy!

This is a recipe I found in a Swedish cookbook by Monika Ahlberg. It is dead simple but very tasty. As Malin said: “It tastes very advanced.”

Parma parcels with sundried tomatoes with fresh figs and crema di balsamico

1 packet parma ham

100-150 g cream cheese

5-8 sundried (or even better: sunblush) tomatoes in oil

a few fresh figs

balsamic glaze (crema di balsamico)

Chop the tomatoes roughly and mix with the cheese. Place a dollop of the cheese on every parma slice and fold into small parcels. Place these randomly on a plate. Cut the figs into wedges and place on the same plate. Drizzle balsamic glaze over the plate, serve with bread.

In the original recipe Monika place black olives on the plate as well. I do that sometimes, or it works just as well with pimiento olives, or like here, completely without.

Bruschetta

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I love this simple appetizer. Perfect while waiting for the barbecue. Delicious!

Bruschetta, as an appetizer for 2 people

1 crusty baguette, about 20 cm long

2 tomatoes

fresh basil, half a bunch

1 clove of garlic

olive oil

salt and white pepper

Cut the baguette in slices and put them on a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil on each slice. Peel the garlic and cut it in half length wise, and rub the clove over the bread to give it a hint of garlic. Toast in oven for 7-10 minutes in 200 degrees. Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes and the basil, mix together and pour in some olive oil, season. When the bread is toasted, put a spoonful of the tomato mixture on each slice, be generous, but make sure you don’t put the juice on the bread (use a strainer if you want) as it goes soggy. Enjoy immediately!