Caviar Croustades for Gillian & Peter

There is one universal truth – we all love the nibbles at a dinner party. The variety of tastes, textures and combinations often outshine the main event.

There’s an even greater truth about nibbles. No one likes to make them. They’re a pain, they’re finickity and if you’ve spent hours making them you eye them with a deep contempt usually reserved for the washing up.

So to deliver on the first and not the second of these truths, I conjured up these little tubs of delight while we hosted Gillian and Peter for a meal during our staycation in Whitstable.

Gillian is my former boss and now firm friend; we share a love of food, wine and the odd filthy joke. She’s also an inspiration; that gentle tinkling you may hear every now and then? That’s the glass ceiling that Gillian keeps breaking. It’s always a pleasure to host the pair of them – even more so in these odd times.

The joy of these nibbles is there’s no cooking involved, it’s just assembly and presentation. And these little beauties really do look the part – simply arranged on a board in unison they tempt as much as they delight.

You’ll need a few specific items which I have linked in the ingredients list below, a wooden board to present them on and a teaspoon to fill them. The most important component is the croustade (pictured at the end) – you’ll find these, oddly enough, in the aisle with the cheese crackers.

Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Crying at the Discoteque’ by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Ingredients

• 1 pack of Rahms 24 mini croustades
• 200g Smoked trout
• 1 tub Paysan Breton Cream Cheese French with Sea Salt
• 1 jar Elsinore Salmon Caviar
• Black pepper

Method

1. Finely chop your smoked trout.
2. Using your teaspoon, assemble each of the croustades in the following order: Trout, Cheese, Pepper, Caviar.
3. The cheese layer should be flush with the top of the croustade with the caviar rising a little above.

Serve immediately with an ice cold Barnsole 2016 Classic Sparkling Wine… let’s keep it local.

Look out for: Rahms Croustades