ORIÉNTAL COCKTAIL STICKS

CREPE ROLLS WITH LEEK AND MUSHROOMS

VEAL FRICANDEAU WITH CELERIAC SALAD                                              

SALAD CUPS WITH EASTERN CARROT MIXTURE                          

MINI SPRINGROLLS                    

RED PAPRIKA ROLLS WITH GOATS CHEESE                                      

FILLED MUSHROOM CAPS                    

CROSTINI WITH CREAM CHEESE

NACHOS WITH SPICY SURIMI SALAD

CHERRY TOMATOES WITH PESTO

CROSTINI WITH RUCOLASALAD AND GRATINEATED CAMEMBERT

MUSHROOM CAPS FILLED WITH CHORIZO

GREEK MEATBALLS WITH LEMON AND EGG SAUCE

Drain the pineapple juice from the can, into a bowl. Keep this juice. Cut the chicken fillet into 12 cubes. Wash the pepper and remove the seeds and stalk. Cut the pineapple, pepper and artichoke hearts each into 12 equal pieces. Peel the ginger and slice thinly. Arrange the pineapple, chicken, artichoke hearts and green pepper onto the cocktail sticks. Heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the ginger for 30 seconds on a medium heat. Add the cocktail sticks and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the soy sauce, sherry, chilli sauce, the pineapple juice and basil. Cover with a lid and allow to cook softly for another 4 minutes, stirring every now and then. Remove the cocktail sticks from the sauce and serve immediately.

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Mix in the eggs and
milk and beat until you have a smooth batter. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Butter a
large flat frying pan. Pour in 1/5 of the mixture and spread over the surface of the pan. Fry both sides until golden. Do the same with the other 4. Melt the butter in a small pan. Gently fry the leeks and mushrooms. Season to taste with lemon pepper. Cut each crepe into 5 portions. On the thin side put 1 teaspoon of the filling and roll up the crepes. Put on a greased baking tray. Heat the oven to 180º C just before serving and heat the crepe rolls up.
Tip: these could be made up to 2 days in advance.

Cut the celeriac into 1 cm slices, peel and cut into large chunks. Bring water to the boil with the vinegar and some salt and add the celeriac for 5 minutes until al dente. Drain. In a food processor either grate coarsely or slice finely.
Dry on a tea towel and place in a bowl. Cut the pears into cubes and add with the crumbled blue cheese to the celeriac.  Mix in the sour cream and mayonnaise and season with pepper. Cover and allow to rest. Stir the salad and check for seasoning.  On a work top, spread the meat slices and scoop 1 tablespoon of salad onto each slice. Roll the meat into a cornet and arrange onto a flat dish. Garnish with parsley.
Variation: Replace the veal fricandeau with roast turkey slices. Also the celeriac salad can be shop bought.

Clean the carrots and gate coarsely. Clean the spring onion and
slice finely. Chop the coriander. In a bowl, beat the lemon juice
and oil into a dressing. Mix in the carrot, spring onion and coriander. Allow to rest for ½ hour. Coarsely chop the cashew nuts and mix into the carrots. Spoon the carrot mixture into the salad cups and place onto a platter.

Separate the spring roll wrappers and cut them into squares and cover them with a kitchen towel, until ready for use. Squeeze all the liquid from the mushrooms. Discard the stalks and chop the mushrooms . Dice the chicken fillets finely. Fry the chicken, mushrooms  and spring onions and bamboo shoots and red pepper in 2 tablespoons of oil till the chicken is cooked. Add the bean sprouts and allow to fry for a short time. Add soy sauce, ginger, sherry and sugar. Allow to cool. Arrange 2 teaspoons of filling onto each spring roll wrapper and fold 1 corner in. Then fold the 2 sides in and roll the spring roll. Quickly dunk them into water and secure the pastry.  Deep fry the spring rolls in medium hot oil until golden brown. Allow to drain off oil and serve with plum sauce or soy sauce.
Tip: Should the filling be too runny then use 2 wrappers so that the filling will not leak during the frying.

Wash the paprika, remove the stalks and seeds and cut lengthways
into 8 pieces. Heat 3 table spoons of olive oil in a pan, add the red
paprika, cover the pan with a lid and slowly fry the red paprika for 10 minutes. In the meantime, scrub a lemon and grate 1 teaspoon full of lemon peel. In a bowl, crumble the goats cheese. Snip the oregano into it. Mix in the lemon peel and 1 tablespoon of oil into the cheese and herb mixture. Season with a couple of drops of lemon juice and lots of paprika. Spread 1 tablespoon of the goats cheese mixture on each of the red pepper pieces. Roll the red peppers, starting on the thin end. Secure with a cocktail stick. Arrange the red paprika rolls on a shallow platter. Allow to rest for ½ hour so that the flavours marry.

Remove the stalks of the mushrooms. Chop the herbs. Separate the yolk of the egg white. Heat the oven to 180º C. Crumble the feta and add the herbs and soft cheese. Stir in the egg yolk. Beat the egg white to a stiff consistency and fold into the cheese mixture. Fill the mushroom caps with this mixture and place on an oiled baking tray or oven dish. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes and garnish with strips of red pepper.

Heat the grill. Spread the garlic butter on the French bread and grill
until lightly brown. In the meantime fry the bacon until crispy and
allow to drain on kitchen paper. Clean and finely slice the spring onions, keeping the green and white parts separate. In a food processor pulse the cream cheese with the drained tomatoes, the bacon and the white parts of the spring onions. Season with pepper. Divide the cream cheese mixture over the French bread and garnish with the green parts of the spring onions.

Slice the spring onion finely. Make a cross into the tomato skin and submerge in boiling water. Take the skin of the tomato. Half it, remove the seeds, and cut the flesh into little pieces. Cut the ginger finely. Snip the coriander into a small bowl. Cut the surimi finely. Mix all the ingredients into a bowl and season it to a spicy mixture with tabasco, salt and pepper.
To assemble: Arrange the salad on the nachos. Place nachos on a platter and garnish with the remaining coriander.
Tips: instead of nachos, you could cut 5 cm rounds from flour tortillas and fry these crispy in a frying pan.

Heat the oven to 200º or gas mark 4. Brush the mushrooms clean and take out the stalks. Clean and de-seed the red pepper. Chop the mushroom stalks, red pepper and chorizo finely. Snip the parsley into a bowl. Dissolve the ½ stock cube in 3 tablespoons of hot water. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the chorizo for 2 minutes. Add the red pepper and the mushroom stalks, and reduce the cooking liquid. Mix in the parsley. Divide the meat mixture onto the mushrooms and gently press into place. Arrange the mushrooms into an oven dish. Top with bread crumbs. Pour into the bowl the sherry and the stock. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the middle of the oven until cooked. Serve hot or luke warm.

Pulse the parsley, garlic, pine nuts and oil in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the cherry tomatoes, and mix in well. Slice the top of the tomatoes and scrape out the seeds. Add 1 spoon of pesto to each tomato. Store in a fridge till ready to use. Can be made up to 2 hours in advance.

Cut the rucola in  2cm pieces. Slice the stoneleeks very finely. Beat in a bowl, the oil and vinegar, salt and pepper into a dressing. Mix in the rucola and ½ of the stoneleeks. Slice the French stick into 20 slices and spread them out on to a baking tray. Cut the camembert into 20 portions. Heat the grill to it's hottest setting. Place the baking tray about 10 cm underneath and grill the French bread until golden brown in 2 minutes, turning them once. Arrange the bread on a platter. Then place the camembert on a baking tray and place under the grill for about 1 minute until it is slightly melted. Divide the rucola salad over the crostini. Top with the camembert and garnish with the remaining stoneleeks.

Peel and chop the onion. Remove the crusts of the bread and soak in milk. Finely chop the garlic and slice the lemon. Squeeze the liquid from the bread and mix the bread, the chopped garlic, egg, oregano and onion into the minced meat. Season with salt and pepper. Roll into little balls, the size of ping pong balls. Fry the balls in olive oil on a medium heat till brown and cooked, roughly about 20 minutes. Heat the stock for the lemon sauce. Beat the eggs and stir in the lemon juice. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and keep stirring for several  minutes. Slowly add the stock and keep stirring until there is a thick consistency. Turn down the heat and add the rest of the stock and the eggs and stir into the sauce. The sauce must not boil anymore at this stage. Either serve the meatballs in the sauce or separate. Garnish with chopped parsley and slices of lemon.