An all canape reception for a post-wedding celebration

"Do we have to sit down for the main course? The canapes are so good we could just keep going with those all night" quipped the guests on 9 January at Rectory Park. Well this is what we did 2 days ago for a post wedding celebration - an all canape event with savoury and dessert canapes, and there is another one booked for April 10th too. If you're going to do it why not do it in style?!

As a large number of the party were vegetarian (almost half) I just changed a few of the canapes to account for this, and also so they would all be different (rather than using the same ingredients). There was also one guest with an allergy to raw onions & chives - so this also had to be taken into account.
And as the Coach House at Upper Court has wireless broadband I took along the laptop and uploaded some photos of the canapes as we sent them - http://twitpic.com/photos/MyCotswoldfood

Cold canapés

Avocado and vegetable rice paper wraps – NO SPRING ONION

Asparagus and walnut barquette

Baked new potatoes with Oxford Blue cheese, broad beans and rocket

I really like the way this turned out - simple yet very tasty, the essence of a good canape. Normally I do the baked new potatoes with smoked trout mousse and asparagus, but for this event tried out a new vegetarian version. As they had asparagus with the previous canape I found this one and used Oxford Blue instead of gorgonzola, charlotte potatoes instead of the purple ones and watercress instead of rocket.

I sent the first plate out and it was back empty in about 20 seconds. Rather popular.

Beetroot rosti with cream cheese and beluga lentils – NO RAW CHIVES/ ONION

It's always good when you try out things for the first time on the day. No room for error. Started making these at 2:30pm on the day - always

best to be fresh.

Such an amazing colour when you slice the raw beetroot and potato on the madolin. Used my trusty rosti method then made small bite size individual ones. Heat is everything with these - too low and they'll be a soggy mash, too high and they'll just burn on the bottom - it's somewhere in between, practice makes perfect.

When I first heard looked at Johanna's beluga lentil post last November I was caught up thinking of beluga caviar (how much of that did we serve in my time at Claridges?). So while I was thinking of toppings for this - cream cheese and beluga seemed the obvious choice, just beluga lentils rather than beluga caviar - I've really got into beans & pulses over the last year (slight difference in price too). It really seemed to work. As fast as I made them they vanished and I ended up using everything I had made - even the back up.

Sweet potato scones with sweetcorn chutney - recipes as seen here last year

King prawns with horseradish cocktail sauce

Hot canapés

Spinach and feta spring rolls

Scallops wrapped in pancetta with pesto mayonnaise

Coconut and coriander fishcakes with curry mayonnaise – CURRY MAYO NO RAW ONION/ CHIVE etc

Mini Yorkshire puddings with grilled fillet steak and horseradish

Harissa marinaded lamb skewers with hommous – NO RAW ONION IN HOUMMOUS

Cocktail chipolatas with mustard mash

Anne Meadows is currently making pork and leek sausages at Home Farm as well as their regular ones - and I think these taste much better. Only thing is the pork and leek were only made into larger sausages rather than chipolatas, so I got those, twisted them in half to make them into cocktail sasuage size and cut them in half. It was worth it though

- tastes so good.

Dessert canapés

Mini pecan pie

One of last things to bake - about 3:30pm. Lay all your trust in

a Nigella recipe. They turned out great - even better than expected. Heated again before they were served they filled the kitchen with a wonderful caramel aroma. My favourite canape of the night - but I'm biased.

Mini blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake

These had turned out so well as a dessert version for the buffet I did last year that I added them on as a canape as well made in canape muffin cases.

Made the night before (well night into morning - the last tray below went in the oven at 2:30am), I used this tip again so they don't stick to the cases. Topped with candied lemon zest.

And yes - we did move them to a clean plate just after a quick photo call.....

Mini tarte tatin

Tarte tatin was another example of it'll be alright on the night. When I first made it over 3 years ago I was doing it for the first time for a party that evening. And it turned out so well. It rapidly became my favourite dessert to make - what can be better than caramelised apple? Bite-size ones like this were lush.

• See behind the scenes photos of the team in action here on facebook

Related posts

Other wedding events we have done previously