Canapés can involve a little bit more effort than a lot of standard Martini Food (like olives, pickles or nuts) but they can make a very special drink even more enjoyable.

As with most martini food, they should be edible with one hand.

They are often, in fact ideally, bitesize.

Here are some examples of canapés I recently enjoyed:

These are rice crackers topped with a pickled egg mayonnaise and cucumber mixture, a small slice of smoked salmon and some lumpfish roe.

Yakitori

These are bacon and asparagus skewers, popular in Japanese yakitori outlets. They take a fair bit of effort but they are absolutely delicious. You can even make them in advance and serve them cold but they are best served fresh and warm, especially to contrast your cold drink.

Toasted

This is a small slice of toasted bread topped with sour cream, red onion and fish roe. It’s easy to prepare but very tasty so is ideal if you’re pushed for time but want to make something special. It’s absolutely fine, if less aesthetic, if you leave out the roe.

Croustade

These are croustades filled with sour cream and topped with either smoked salmon and cucumber or lumpfish roe.

The croustades can go soggy fairly quickly so be sure to eat them fast!

California canapé

This is  mayo and raw salmon with cucumber, avocado and black sesame seeds, all served on a rice crackerfor a very satisfyingly fatty crunch to accompany the silver bullet. It’s like a crunchy California roll.

Prawns

This is a single prawn from a prawn cocktail mixture, served on a black charcoal cracker. The cucumber slices just looked like a nice colour contrast but you can actually serve the prawn cocktail on them as well which is a good alternative if you’re celiac or otherwise avoiding wheat.

This was a refreshing, crunchy summer roll with mint, vegetables and prawns.

Rounds

This is smoked salmon and cream cheese in a wrap, sliced into rounds and garnished with dill. Easy and tasty.

Maki rolls

This is tuna hosomaki that I picked up in a supermarket on the way home. Is it restaurant quality? No. But was it a highly satisfying martini accompaniment. Of course.

Hot Pink

This is a very zingy mixture of beetroot blitzed with horseradish in roughly equal measure.

You can prepare a series of crackers with the mixture or you can serve the crackers with the mixture on the side. It’s quite addictive.

From Russia with Love

Blini blini blini… these miniature blini make a lovely martini accompaniment.

These ones are served with sour cream and highly local crab (my brother caught this one in a creel somewhere off the coast of Ardnamurchan).

Fat and Flesh

This is one of the very popular Prunes, blue cheese and prosciutto bites that can be a *slight* faff to assemble but they’re definitely worth it.

The Simple Favourite

And finally, this is one of my favourites. It’s a rice cracker topped with taramasalata, red onion and lumpfish roe.

I love taramasalata but combining it with raw onion gives it an almost heady pungency that I think goes beautifully with a powerful martini. The roe crowns the bite with glory but I find this canapé just as tasty without it.

Happy Martini Snacking!