MULTI GRAIN CANAPES WITH FRUIT TOPPINGS…more short eats

Ralph Waldo Emerson

FRUIT & CHEESE…one of my favourite combinations or magical partners! This was the best way to introduce my kids to fruit when they were young. Worked like magic! Cut to now; add some carbs & you end up with a well-balanced, delicious appetizer!

Entrees, appetizers, finger-food…a fascinating ‘cuisine course’ for me, largely unexplored. I always edge on the temptation of falling fall back on familiar ground when it comes to short eats. With blogging comes new energy, new ideas & loads of left-overs to experiment with. Have been exploring this finger-food front on & off. The potato canapes left me with a small amount of leftover cheese topping, & the fridge that was being cleared out, left me with a 1/4 jar of mango chutney & some pineapple slices. When we visited Chennai in the South of India in June this year, the son fell in love with pineapples. Arrrrgh…of all the tough fruits to fall in love with; what was wrong with a banana? So, the other day, I picked up this pineapple at the bazaar, & decided to tackle it. A picturesque fruit, beautiful to look a, however quite POKEY & hard-work!! For me, half the joy disappeared as it wasn’t too easy to cut the silly fruit. The angst was short lived; when you taste the juicy freshness of pineapple, life becomes worthwhile again. My Le Cordon Bleu Cook’s Bible sat next to me guiding me towards the how to cut this fruit! That achieved, I moved on to make some multi grain canapes. I rolled the multi grain slices as thin as I could with a rolling pin, then cut out 2″ circles with cookie cutters (of course, when I needed it most, the fluted cutter had done the disappearing act). Brushed them lightly with olive oil, & toasted them in the oven at 180 degrees C for about 10 minutes till they were nice & crisp. If you are short on time, you can use salted cookies instead like Monaco that we get here, or probably Saltines or something. That done, it was time for the toppings. I cut some cottage cheese with the same cookie cutter & sliced it finely to line some of the bases (you can also use cheese slice cut-outs instead).The cheese toppings are the left-over from my previous post. A blend of grated cottage-cheese, cheddar & a little low-fat cream, piped out over the fruit. Choices of toppings…hmmmmm…infinite. I’ve chosen fruit toppings, but use your imagination. Put on savoury stuff if you like…the sky’s the limit! I used apricot relish on some. It’s a great & versatile chutney that goes well with Indian food, with roasts, with grilled food, & on canapes. Line the base with a slice of cheese (optional), top with a teaspoon of relish, pipe some cream cheese over, grind pepper over the top…& you’re ready to roll!! Recipe for APRICOT RELISH here.Another great combination is pineapple & cheese. Refreshing & delectable!

My third choice was mango chutney, which I was trying to finish up. It’s a finger-licking good relish, a recipe I got from Meeta @ What’s For Lunch Honey? You can find the recipe for MANGO CHUTNEY here.