Here is some more food to go with your martini. I like to use things that are simple to make (or that you can make in advance), easy to eat (preferably with one hand) and either carbohydrate or protein based, especially on the savoury side of things. There are loads of potential categories from you to choose from.

 
Let’s start with some simple pretzels. They are salty, crunchy and pretty easy to assemble!

Here is some sliced chorizo, rolled and skewered to make ‘dragonfly’ type bites.

Or to keep it simple, just slice the chorizo and serve it with on its own or as I did here, with miniature oatcakes.
  
Here is some sliced, cold roast pork, left over from the previous night’s dinner. Leftovers can make some surprisingly appropriate accompaniments for martinis sometimes, even though they might not always look very glamorous. 

Slightly more indulgent, here are some pork gyoza (dumplings) served with chives and a soy/vinegar/mirin dipping sauce. You can make them yourself, buy them ready-prepared and steam them or you could even have them delivered as takeaway food (the author might have done that on this occasion).

Steamed dumplings also make a very good post-martini meal by the way. If you are having two martinis, have everything set up in advance (the dumplings, the steamers lined with parchment or cabbage leaves, cold water in a pot over the oven). Once you’ve had your first martini, switch on the oven and heat up the water from cold, at a temperature where it will rise to a steady boil over a few minutes. Sit the steamers over the top then enjoy your second martini. By the time it’s finished, the dumplings should be ready, give or take.

 
Pickled gherkins, Bombay mix and Japanese rice snacks combine three completely different cuisines. They don’t go together spectacularly well but it doesn’t matter too much once you’re on martini number two. It’s also useful if you have several guests with different preferences.

  
This is a very simple tapas-inspired appetiser of cheese and tomatoe purée roasted in the oven for a few minutes.

  
Even something as simple as sausages go nicely. I prefer gamier types of sausage (ie venison) to go with juniper-strong gins.

  
Here are some Pringles. I will say nothing more.

  
Crisps in general rarely go wrong. Here are some served with a classic martini containing a Rosemary garnish.

  
Nachos also go well with dips and pair nicely with a coriander martini.

Here is some beetroot and salmon ceviche with leche de tigre, Korean-style wilted spinach, tsukemono and green tea. I didn’t actually serve this dish with a martini but its constituent parts make good accompaniments.

You can see more about the Ceviche and Leche de Tigre and it’s possible combination with a martini here (this is a personal favourite of mine).

You can see my thoughts on green tea and martinis here.

My Korean spinach recipe is here.

And my tsukemono recipe is here.

  
If you don’t want to prepare anything, Bombay mix is a handy and traditional drink snack.

  
Here are some Nocellara olives served with a Japanese pickled ginger martini.

 
Here are some roasted soy beans and black bamboo charcoal peanuts.

  
Here are some peanuts, “pork floss” / Rousong (I didn’t know what it was at first either but it’s tasty) and my own carrot San Bai Zu.

 
Fish floss also exists but it won’t be to everyone’s taste. I thought it tasted like fish food but it goes quite nicely sprinkled over thick tofu slices in miso soup.

  
Otherwise, I prefer to keep it simple. Here are some salted pistachio nuts in their shells.

 
Sun-dried tomatoes and olives stuffed with anchovies.

  
I’ve previously mentioned that martinis go very well with seafood. Here are some locally caught mussels served in a cream and onion sauce in the garden. I would suggest, however, that mussels should be served after a martini, because you need both hands to extract them from their shells.

  
Here are some scallops and prosciutto.

Let’s go back to mystery pork products. There is quite a lot of pork in this entry even though I don’t actually eat a lot of it. These are honey roasted pork pieces. Given the unknown ingredients they could even be kosher/halal, we just don’t know.

 
However, I must admit, they were quite tasty.

  
Here I served the pork with walnuts and olives.

   
It kept us going for at least one round of martinis.

  
Here is some of Mum’s homemade herb butter to be slathered on some tasty rare steaks.

 
I guess it’s less of a snack and more of a meal…

But it certainly went well with a martini.

  
Barbecue and steaks in general go very nicely with or immediately after a martini.

  
Bruschetta… Not my most artistic photo but it was tasty.

Here is some salmon carpaccio, with lemon juice, grated lemon and orange rind, herbs, capers and juniper berries. I evidently still need to work on my presentation but it tasted nice enough and nobody died.

  
If you prefer your salmon cooked with heat I marinated some in a little rice vinegar for 30 minutes then grilled it for 16 minutes on a high heat.
And I think that’s quite enough for one blog post…

Until the next one!