Start your meal with this nice plate: Easy smoked salmon and cream cheese canapés
How to Make Easy smoked salmon and cream cheese canapés
Preparation time:
less than 30 mins
Cooking time:
10 to 30 mins
Serves:
Makes 40–50 canapés
Ingredients
For the soda bread
- 125g/4oz wholemeal flour
- 125g/4oz plain flour
- 7g (1 heaped tsp) caster sugar
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp table salt
- 30g/1oz porridge
- 50g/1¾oz treacle
- 5 tbsp Irish stout
- 20g/¾oz salted butter
- 100ml/3½fl oz buttermilk
- 1 large free-range egg
For the topping
- 180g/6¼oz cream cheese
- ½ lemon
- 200g/7oz smoked salmon
- handful chopped fresh chives
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
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Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5.
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For the soda bread, mix together the flours, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and porridge oats in a large bowl. Add the treacle and stout to the dry ingredients and stir in. Add the melted butter and mix well. Gradually mix in the buttermilk to give a firm but sticky dough (you may not need all the buttermilk).
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Using your hands, bring the mixture together until a smooth dough is formed and briefly knead. On a lightly floured work surface, shape the dough into a square loaf that is roughly 1cm/½in high. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper or dusted well with flour. Brush the top with the beaten egg, scatter over a few porridge oats and bake for 30–40 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Leave to cool completely.
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For the topping, place the cream cheese in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and stir through the lemon juice to taste and the smoked salmon until combined. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a very large plain nozzle (or you can spoon the topping onto the bread before serving if preferred). Chill until ready to serve.
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To serve, slice the loaf into 1cm/½in thick slices (roughly 8–10 slices). Cut each slice into 2.5cm/1in squares. You will need around 40–50 squares. Pipe or spoon the cream cheese mixture on top of each square and then garnish with chives or dill.
