The Raymond Blanc Cookery School, at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons has a new course on offer – making creative canapés. Danielle Woodward spends the day learning how to create delicious dinner party treats
You need to have a few tricks up your sleeve; some impressive-looking but easy-to-make options that won’t have you breaking a sweat (never a good look on a host), or quaffing all the bubbly yourself because you’re too stressed so you greet your guests in a drunken stupour.
First were choux buns; the base for the chicken liver parfait and mango chutney canapé. We watched as he mixed together all the basic ingredients (water, milk, butter, salt, sugar, flour, eggs), then filled a piping bag and piped small, delicate circles onto a baking tray. (My attempt looked more like flat pancakes; I must practise my piping.) While they were in the oven, we made the oat biscuit base for the goat’s curd and olive canapé. A basic digestive biscuit recipe with wholemeal flour, the ingredients were mixed and placed in the fridge to firm up before cutting into squares and baking.
Before we got started on the toppings, we made parmesan and rosemary popcorn, cooking the popping corn on the hob, and pouring over rosemary-infused butter, sprinkling with parmesan and cayenne for a kick. Then came the chicken liver parfait. This I found quite involved, as you needed to create a reduction of port, madeira, cognac, shallots and thyme, then stir this into the liver. To be honest, I’m not sure if I would bother doing this at home, but it did taste wonderful. We piped this into our choux buns, topped with mango chutney – a more straightforward recipe of blanching the mango and mixing with spices, lime juice and sugar.
The goat’s curd was mixed with lemon and whipping cream and added to the oat biscuit with a drizzle of honey and sprinkle of dried olives over the top – this was my favourite canape flavourwise, as the salty cheese and olives meeting the sweet biscuit base and honey drizzle was a perfect combination.
Le Manoir offers one-, two- and four-day courses, as well as children’s courses. Visit www.belmond.com/le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons-oxfordshire/raymond-blanc-cookery-school
The canapé course costs £185 per person and the next courses are scheduled for 25 November and 9 December.