Sweet and savoury canapés

My friends and family will tell you that I love receiving foodie gifts, particularly new and interesting products that I have not see before. A few weeks ago my parents returned from a weekend away with two such items – large tortilla baskets and smaller canapé shells from a local company called Kari Foods. Today I am going to show you how to make happiness in a mouthful with two recipes that I created using the canapé shells.

Before I tackled the small canapé shells I tried out the larger tortilla shells and added a chilli con carne inspired filling topped with salsa and cheese and grilled in the oven. It made for a very tasty dinner! While I was keen to try this idea for the smaller canapé shells I had visions of chilli con carne dripping out as soon as I took a bite – and this is when I had the idea of making a canapé friendly chilli con carne meatball instead. This is served with sour cream, a dollop of tomato chilli jam and fresh coriander.

The canapé shells contain no sugar but can be used for sweet applications as well as savoury. I decided to dip them in dark chocolate and then fill them with a dark chocolate and Amarula ganache. I then topped them with crushed amaretti biscuits to add a different flavour and some more crunch. If you don’t have amaretti biscuits I am sure ginger or toffee biscuits would also work brilliantly. I won’t tell you how many of these I polished off… let’s just say too many!

CHILLI CON CARNE MEATBALL CANAPÉS

Servings: 25
Print

For the meatballs:

1 small red onion, chopped
1 tsp crushed garlic
a large pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp dried thyme
280g lean beef mince
salt
black pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans, drained

To cook and assemble:

vegetable oil for frying
25 canapé shells
125ml sour cream
120ml tomato chilli jam
fresh coriander leaves (no stalks) to serve

1.) Pop all the meatball ingredients into a food processor and blitz until well mixed and the beans have broken down slightly. (I tend to avoid over-processing the mixture as I like some texture in the meatballs.) Alternatively you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your hands, simply chop the onions finely and mash the beans separately before adding them to the rest of the ingredients.

2.) Heat a layer of vegetable oil in a frying pan, then cook the meatballs until they are very brown on all sides and cooked through. It will be easier to do this in two or three batches depending on how large your frying pan is.

3.) Pop the meatballs on some kitchen towel. Next, fill each canapé shell with a teaspoon of sour cream and pop one meatball into each. Top with about ½ to 1 teaspoon of tomato chilli jam, sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE AMARULA TARTLETS WITH AMARETTI TOPING

Servings: 30
Print

75g dark chocolate, for dipping
30 canapé shells
300g dark chocolate, chopped
250ml double cream
2 tbsp Amarula Cream
15 amaretti biscuits
icing sugar to serve

1.) Melt the 75g of dark chocolate in the microwave on a low heat. Carefully dip the top edge of each canapé shell into the chocolate, shake off any excess and set aside on a tray to dry and set.

2.) Place the chopped dark chocolate in a bowl. Bring the double cream to the boil in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Whisk until you have a smooth, glossy mixture. Resist the urge to dive face first into the bowl, and whisk in the Amarula Cream.

3.) Divide the chocolate mixture between the canapé shells (about one tablespoon in each) and set aside for 1-2 hours at room temperature to set.

Note: setting the chocolate at room temperature will give you a softer, creamier set and will help to retain that gorgeous glossy finish. For a quicker, firmer set you can chill the canapés in the fridge, but they will lose their shiny appearance.

4.) Place the amaretti biscuits in a sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin. I like to have a mixture of fine crumbs and slightly larger chunks. Top each canapé with a small pile of amaretti crumbs, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Disclaimer: I received this product as a gift and chose to create these recipes and write this post. I was under no obligation from Kari Foods to do so.