Death of the dinner party – Opt for easy Christmas entertaining Spectacular canapés from Seggiano that just need assembling

Inviting friends and family around for some festive fun this year need not involve a lengthy arduous cooking experience. Step away from the stove and spend more time in the party, with a ready-collated canapé collection from the fine food experts at Seggiano.

With many of us more time-poor than ever, spending hours in the kitchen can become a task rather than a thing of joy when really you’d prefer to be enjoying special seasonal moments with your family and friends. Plus, with fuel prices at an all-time high, having the oven on for hours can become an expensive way to entertain. So, forget the hours peeling roasties, making gravy and perfecting your cranberry sauce – why not stick to dishes that can be assembled shortly before your guests arrive, you could even get away without switching on the oven at all!

Let a few quality ingredients sing, with simple but effective canapé recipes which require minimal effort, but maximum wow factor.

Move away from vast quantities of food and focus on a curated collection of dishes that look and taste the part instead!

With just a few clicks order canapé ingredients from the Seggiano website and get ready to simply assemble these fabulous festive recipes…

Seggiano Easy Entertaining Tips: 

• • • Many recipes can be made ahead, so that they can simply be finished off just before your guests arrive.  For example, the Antipasti Parcels can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days or frozen for up to a month.  If cooking from frozen, reduce the oven temperature to 180c and cook for 18-20 minutes.
  • • Give a jar of plain looking olives the VIP treatment. Drain and mix in a bowl with orange and lemon zest as well as a good slug of quality olive oil. Just before your guests arrive add ice to a small serving bowl and add the olives on top coated in the oil – you’ll be amazed at how different they look and taste.
  • • A super easy way to serve charcuterie with a bit of a difference is to take Grissini (breadsticks), half a slice of prosciutto lengthways and twist along the breadsticks, tucking the ham in at the end to secure it. Laid out onto a big beautiful plate, or a wooden chopping board and served with a homemade dip, they look fabulous.
  • • Fresh herbs are expensive during the winter, and can quickly spoil. Keep a few jars of Seggiano’s Semi Fresh Herbs in the fridge for finishing off canapé dishes and giving them that polished, professional look. Preserved in oil and seasalt, the herbs taste as if they have just been picked, but offer the convenience of dried ones – the best of both worlds.
  • • Special serving plates and bowls can make all the difference to a festive feast. Just because you’re not sat around the table, don’t forget to dress your space. Soft lighting and candles are a must. Using rolled up and folded tablecloths and fabrics to dress a serving space can work wonders – whether it’s a breakfast bar, or a kitchen counter-top.
  • • Use up-turned cake tins and bowls to create varying heights for a canapé display, and decorate with spare Christmas decorations. Trim unruly Christmas tree branches from the back or bottom of your tree and use as part of your set-up, whilst dried pine cones sprayed with gold/silver paint can really add something extra. To finish, small strings of battery-powered fairy lights can be bought cheaply and look great tucked amongst a display of plates. You could even get out in the garden and gather twigs and winter foliage to bring inside, for example red Dogwood branches look fabulous trimmed and displayed in a vase decorated with lights.
  • • Welcome your guests with a glass of something spectacular to get the party off to a special start. Consider adding a shot of sloe gin and a slug of soda water to Prosecco to create a ‘Royale’ cocktail with a difference, and by simply adding frozen berries instead of ice, you can create a visually stunning drink with very little effort.
      • • Dishes that give your guests something to do create a great talking point for your party. Butter Boards require no cooking and are a party appetiser that looks impressive, yet can be made quickly and easily. Cheaper than buying lots and lots of charcuterie, they still give your guests the opportunity to interact with the food in the way that they would with a meat board.

All canapé ingredients are available to order direct from Seggiano.com – visit the Seggiano Canapé Collection page.

For home delivery in the UK & NI, with deliveries running right up until Christmas Eve. Last orders for delivery before Christmas Day to be placed on 16th December 2022.

Buon Natale!

Seggiano Canapé Collection

Savoury Canapés

Seggiano Artichoke and Semi-dried Tomato Butter Board (V) – Makes enough for 8-12 people.

A butter board is a fabulous way to really make something simple look special. It’s a great way to get your guests involved with the food and can be adapted depending on what you have available in your fridge and cupboards. From decorating with edible winter flowers such as violas and pansies, to using jars of pre-prepared antipasti, go ahead and experiment!

Ingredients

400g good quality salted butter – at room temperature

190g Seggiano Roasted Artichoke Hearts in Oil

110g Seggiano Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes in Oil

Sprinkle of Seggiano Semi Fresh Basil

Buckwheat biscuits for serving

Take an attractive chopping board, ideally wooden, roughly spread the butter onto the board with the back of a spoon, leaving undulations and crevices. Spread to within a couple of centimetres from the edge of the board. Drain the artichokes and oven roasted tomatoes, reserving the oil. Chop the artichokes and tomatoes into halves and quarters and dot across the butter.

Finish with a sprinkling of semi-fresh basil across the top and a drizzle of the reserved oil. Serve alongside buckwheat biscuits, which can be spread with the butter from the board.

Seggiano Pea and Mint Dip (V) – Makes 1 bowl.

This delicious dip uses a base of peas – which everyone has in the freezer. Whizzed up in minutes it’s a favourite of the Seggiano team and is made time and time again when we entertain.

Ingredients

70g defrosted frozen peas

1 tbsp ricotta

2 tbsp Seggiano Lemon Oil

1 tbsp Seggiano Semi-Fresh Mint

Black pepper

Seggiano Lingue flatbreads for serving

In the small food processor, blitz the peas with the ricotta, lemon oil, mint and some black pepper.

Serve with the Seggiano flatbread or tongues.

Seggiano Feta and Basil Pesto Dip (V) – Makes 1 bowl.

The feta in this dip gives a wonderful subtle salty finish, and combined with the basil pesto has a lovely unctuous texture. The feta can be replaced with other crumbly soft cheeses, so be adventurous and use what you have in your fridge.

Ingredients

500g feta cheese, crumbled

240ml Greek yoghurt

Finely grated zest of 1 medium lemon

1 clove garlic, crushed

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp Seggiano Raw Basil Pesto

Seggiano Lingue Flatbreads, Grissini or Parmesan Tongues for serving

Place the feta in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse into small crumbs, 7 – 9 pulses. Add the yoghurt and blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl as it can build up on the sides, until the mixture is whipped and very smooth. Add the lemon zest, garlic, and a few generous grinds of black pepper, and blend for 10 seconds more.

Transfer the whipped feta to a serving bowl and drizzle with the pesto before serving with some Seggiano Flatbreads, Grissini or Parmesan Tongues.

Seggiano Mixed Vegetable Antipasti Parcels (V) – Makes 12 parcels.

Light, crispy and incredibly moreish, these Antipasti Parcels are great as a showstopper party piece. Ready-made puff pastry can be bought from most supermarkets, and is super quick and easy to use and cook. By using Seggiano Mixed Antipasti, most of the hard work has already been done for you, and this will give a great depth of flavour.

Ingredients

2 sheets ready-made puff pastry

3-4 tbsp Seggiano Basil Pesto

250g Seggiano Mixed Vegetable Antipasti (finely chopped)

75g goats cheese log, sliced then halved into semi circles

Egg yolk (beaten)

Sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat your oven to 200°c Unroll the pastry sheet and cut into 12 squares approx. 8x8cm depending on the size of your pastry.  It is easiest to do this with a pizza wheel if you have one. To fill your parcels, lay a square of pastry in front of you and rotate 90 degrees so that you have a diamond shape.  Spread a little pesto over the top half of the pastry leaving a small border around the edge.  Top with a teaspoon of chopped antipasti and add half a slice of goats’ cheese (don’t be too tempted to overfill at this stage or the parcels will burst in the oven).

Brush the edge of the pastry in egg yolk then fold the bottom corner over to meet the top and use a fork to seal the edges.  Brush with more egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.  Transfer to a lined baking tray then repeat with the remaining pastry.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp.

Olive, Herb and Walnut Biscotti – Makes enough for 8-10 people as part of a wider canapé collection.

Nuts are always a winner at Christmas time and give that feeling of decadence, plus when cooked as part of dishes they make the house smell great, ready for the arrival of your guests. These clever little savoury biscotti are best when still warm straight from the oven, but can be prepared in advance too, and kept in a sealed biscuit tin for up to 24 hours.

Ingredients

200g Plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

80g Parmesan, finely grated

80g Seggiano Rosate di Bitetto Olives, pitted and finely chopped

55g Walnuts, finely chopped

1 tsp Seggiano Semi Fresh Thyme

1 tsp Seggiano Semi Fresh Oregano

1 tbsp Seggiano Wild Thyme Honey

3 Medium Eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 170ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix together the flour, baking powder, parmesan, olives, walnuts, herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Whisk the honey into the eggs then pour into the dry mixture. Stir to bring it together into a soft dough. Shape into a log and transfer to the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes then use a serrated knife to cut the log into slices approximately 1cm thick. Arrange the biscotti on the baking tray, you may need another tray to fit them all on, and cook for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Sweet Canapés

Seggiano Panforte figs (V) – Makes enough for 8-10 people as part of a wider canapé collection.

Panforte is the ultimate Italian Christmas product and screams festivity. We think it’s great on its own, but to give it that extra pizazz, top with mascarpone and fresh fig slices for a delicate sweet treat.

Ingredients

200g Seggiano Fig and Walnut Panforte

6 figs

Seggiano Chestnut Raw Honey

Mascarpone

Slice the Seggiano panforte into thin slices and cut in half. Add a teaspoon of the mascarpone on top of the panforte. Cut the fig into medium size segments and arrange on top of the mascarpone. Drizzle with a little of your favourite Seggiano honey and serve.

Espresso shots and Chocolate Fig Salame (V) – 1 Seggiano Chocolate Salame will serve 8-10 people as part of a wider canapé collection.

This is as simple as a sweet canapé gets, no cooking, no baking, it’s all in the serving. Be sure to dig out your favourite colourful coffee cups and saucers for your guests.

Ingredients

1 Seggiano Chocolate Salame

Shots of freshly made Espresso

Slice up Seggiano’s Chocolate Fig Salame into 0.5cm thick slices, lay on a board or tray alongside espresso shots – alternatively, if you have small delicate espresso cups, you can lay a few slices on the saucer as you would with after-dinner chocolates.

Seggiano Chocolate Board (V) – Serves 8-10 people as part of a wider canapé collection.

This is all about indulgence, after all it is Christmas! For those guests that aren’t fussed about a cheese board this is a great alternative. You need not just use Seggiano chocolate products, but we think our Chocolate Clementines, Biscotti, Salame and Liquorice Spirals and Pebbles work wonderfully as part of one of these boards.

Ingredients

1 box of Seggiano Chocolate Clementines

200g Seggiano Sea Salt & Chocolate Biscotti

1 Seggiano Chocolate Fig Salame

100g Seggiano Organic Liquorice Spirals

1 bag Seggiano Liquorice Pebbles

Simply lay out the various sweet treats on a wooden or marble chopping board as you would with cheese. Fill a bowl with the Liquorice Pebbles for height and interest and serve. A simple, easy and effective dessert dish for all the family.