At this time of year it you are inundated with one thing that eludes you the rest of the year it is canapés. Those delicious morsels that are so exciting are without fail a highlight of christmas. From vol-au-vents to tartlets they are, almost exclusively delicious. Today I learnt an interesting recipe for a palmier canapé, and an even more interesting fact about the name palmier.
The recipe for James Martin’s anchovy palmiers can be found here and below:
Anchovy Paste Palmiers
Ingredients
2tbsp Gentlemen’s Relish
2tbsp Double Cream
275g all butter puff pastry
1 beaten free-range egg
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Mix the relish with the cream in a bowl.
3. Spread the mixture over the rolled out pastry leaving a 2cm border.
4. Starting at one end, roll the pastry up towards the middle.
5. Turn the pastry around and roll the other end up to the middle so that they meet.
6. Cut into 1cm thick slices and place on lined baking tray. Brush with egg.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
The learning, however, wasn’t the recipe. It was that the French word palmier means ‘palm tree’ when translated into English and means that the pastry was named to reflect the fact that it looks a little bit like the leafy top of a palm tree!
DC