By Emma Hatcher.
Canapes can be really tricky when you’ve got a sensitive tum and I often find myself staring eagle-eyed at all of the goodies being passed around at festive gatherings to see what’s on offer. Cheese pastries, sausage rolls, bruschetta, mince pies - the list could go on. When these kinds of things are about, my eyes (and belly) are focused on one thing only and that’s tucking in to as many as I can!
Here I’ve gone for smoked salmon, cucumber and horseradish cream blinis, which are FODMAP-friendly and goats’ cheese, dates, thyme and honey blinis, which are vegetarian and delicious. Easy and satisfying to make, you can use plain gluten-free flour if you can’t get hold of buckwheat too.
Makes roughly 25 blinis
Ingredients
For the blinis:
1 large egg
90g gluten-free buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150ml lactose-free or almond milk
½ teaspoon sea salt
oil for frying
Toppings:
100g goats’ cheese
5 large dates, finely chopped
A small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
A drizzle of honey
A few tablespoons of horseradish cream
½ a medium cucumber, cut into ribbons
50g smoked salmon, sliced into small pieces
Method
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until frothy.
Sieve over the flour and baking powder and pour in the milk. Add the salt. Beat well to make a smooth batter and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a little oil.
Pour teaspoons of batter into the pan and cook for a minute or so. When bubbles appear on the surface of each, flip the blinis over and cook on the other side for another minute or until golden. Repeat with the remaining batter, allowing the blinis to cool slightly before topping.
On half, add a spoonful of goats’ cheese, a sprinkle of chopped dates, a sprinkle of thyme leaves and a drizzle of honey.
On the other half, spoon over a small amount of horseradish cream and top with a ribbon of cucumber and a piece of smoked salmon. Serve immediately.
