Read about the menu here:
Apologies for the quality of these pictures; they were taken at the house before we loaded everything in the car to take to the dinner party. As we were serving these canapes as soon as we arrived, I took them fully prepared, which was quite an ordeal. I was never entirely certain that they'd arrive with each strategically placed peppercorn still in place or all the caviar still inside the tart cases...as it is, I'm still brushing off bits of minced egg yolk and crumbs off the front seat!
The artistic construction of the canapes was my reponsibility and what you see above and below are the result of an entire afternoon of shoulder-aching, eye-straining pedantic work. But they tasted incredible! Robert had bought everything before hand, made up the individual butters, and presented me with a diagram of how he wanted each to look, and what toppings went with which butters etc.
So, what do we have here?
Above, we have the canapes served on toasted wholewheat/sourdough bread. From left to right:
Westphalian ham on mustard butter, topped with black peppered pineapple and chopped continental parsley (a fancy pants version of a Hawaiian pizza!)
Smoked salmon & horseradish butter, topped with capers and tarragon
Smoked trout mousse with green peppercorns, orange and chervil
Venison terrine with homemade pickled cherries & watercress (these cherries were amazing. They tasted like the Renaissance! Robert said it was due to all the spices - cloves, cinnamon etc.)
Underneath we have small pastry tartlets filled with:
Lumpfish caviar on anchovy butter with lemon and minced egg yolk
Salmon caviar on lemon butter with lemon, tarragon and minced egg white
These canapes were all very well received by the appreciative guests as they washed them down with champagne and sparkling shiraz (a uniquely Australian drink, I think!) and I marvelled at how an afternoon's work could be devoured in about 10 minutes....heh. Such is the life of a caterer (even if I was one only for a day)
Sounds like a fantastic meal you prepared! And I know exactly what you mean about it being fun for a while, but how it's really nice to only do it once every now and again...
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