On Sunday I’ve invited a couple of friends round for drinks and nibbles. My inner lazy hostess wants to run to Aldi to get crisps and nuts and be done with, however I have decided otherwise.
I am far from being a domestic goddess. I am too impatient to see a recipe through to the end and if I’m honest I’m terrified of my oven. However this weekend I’ve decided to conquer my fear and cheat my way to a few simple morsels.

Camembert

First up is baked camembert, surely I can do this in my Esse oven?! I have a couple of porcelain bakers but obviously you can also cook in the wooden box.
I’m considering following Jamie’s recipe which involves studding the cheese with rosemary and garlic before popping in the oven (and in true Jamie style adding lots of olive oil). He serves his with fancy nutty cranberry crumbles as you can see above. Yum.

Spiced Nuts and Chilli Olives

I don’t really need an excuse to whip out a kilner jar and the idea of making shop-bought nuts appear more appetising really appeals. GoodFood have several recipes, one with honey for a sweet tooth and one with chilli for a spicy tang.
Carrying on with the kilner jar theme, I also like to take one of those huge jars of shop bought olives and decant into another jar adding garlic, a glug of olive oil and chilli flakes. I tip and rotate over a few days to disperse the flavour evenly.

Charcuterie

Over the past few years I’ve accumulated a few wooden boards so I usually lay out an Italian antipasti platter with strips of pastrami, salami, chorizo and prosciutto. However I can’t promise it will look like the amazing image above by Roland Persson.

Dips and Breads

I made my own houmous recently and unfortunately it did not taste good. I’ve had more luck with a home-made tapenade courtesy of James Martin. Also for a fresh take on pesto this pea version is delicious. Both are exceptionally quick to whizz together in a food processor and are ideal to create mini crostinis.

Finally I’ll be buying some fresh bread; my local Co-op have some excellent seasonal bloomers with all sorts of delicacies in them, a few hunks of good quality cheese, maybe a pate or two and some delicious crackers.

What do you think I’m missing? Any other quick recipes you’d like to add? What’s your speciality appetiser dish?