Rachel Allen

Festive parties just wouldn’t be the same without those delicious little savoury nibbles that pair perfectly with bubbles, says Rachel Allen, who has a seasonal recipe selection of moreish bites for you to try out

The perfect Christmas drinks party

I’m strangely intrigued by the origin of many words in the culinary glossary. Who knew that ‘tapas’ came from the Spanish verb tapar, to cover? The original tapas consisted of a piece of bread to cover the top of the wine glass, preventing flies getting in.

Similarly, the canape has somewhat unglamorous origins, in that canape is literally the word for ‘sofa’ in French. Apparently, or so the story goes, a chef in France many years ago created a new type of hors d’oeuvre by placing a savoury topping on a little piece of toast. The topping was thought to sit on the toast like a person sitting on a sofa, and so the canape as we know it was born.

Of course, canapes have evolved over the years to describe much more than just toast or bread with toppings. If you’re serving bites with drinks, it’s worth keeping in mind the amount of labour involved in actually executing food as nibbles. Soup is a winner for canapes: it’s warming, comforting, will help to line the stomach and, happily, it’s quick and easy to pour into little cups for lots of people.

This potato soup with dill and smoked salmon, far right, is a great way to showcase a bit of celebratory smoked salmon at Christmas time and it will work perfectly as a starter instead of a canape. It can also be made a few months in advance and stored in the freezer.

The roasted aubergine and cumin croûte with pomegranate, right, which uses a few of my favourite ingredients, is a variation of a classic baba ganoush — it’s handy for preparing in advance and is deliciously nutritious, too.

The chicory, blue cheese and pecan bites (see page 42) are super festive and take just minutes to whip up, while the chicken liver pate (also on page 42) with sweet apple relish is a dinger in any cook’s repertoire, be it for lunch, supper, or food for festive fizz!

“Soup is a winner for canapes: it’s warming, comforting, and will help to line the stomach”