Holiday Canapés

Bellinis are little pancakes which are light and perfect for topping with cream fraîche and caviar, or if you are on a budget trout eggs are a nice substitute. The advantage to serving these at a cocktail party is that they are soft and thus easy to eat while mingling.

Puff pastry also simply melts in your mouth so a small canope is very nice as an hors d'œuvres at a party. Here we have topped them with seared foie gras, cognac cream and a spot of cherry jam.

Amuse bouche - this can be served in little shot glasses and is absolutely lovely. We combined purée of Jerusalem Artichokes and langoustine (crayfish) bisque.

See recipe under langoustine bisque post.

To make the Jerusalem

Artichoke purée - for 10 - 12

peal 6 Jerusalem artichokes and cut into cubes. Boil in 2 cups cream and 2 cups water until soft and cooked through, about 15-20

minutes. Once they are cooked remove from the heat and drain most of the water away - start to purée them right away when they still hot using a hand held imulsion blender or food processor. You want a consistency of between a soup and mashed potatoes- add some of the liquid back in as needed and a couple knobs of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in shot glasses filling half way up the glass as to make room for the bisque.