Oh what a party! White cobnut gazpacho and canapés

The last thing in the kitchen to be installed was the extractor fan. It was damaged in transport but whilst the rest of the kitchen moved along it got stuck along the way due to various events and summer holidays. Now the kitchen is looking pretty fab and it was time to take it for a proper test drive! I have always wanted to have a canapé and drinks party, it somehow seems so sophisticated and grown up.
When I mentioned this to some of my neighbors I was greeted with great enthusiasm. A date was set and we delivered the invites in the evening. We were so happy about finally having a kitchen and a date for the party a celebratory drink at the pub was in order. The following morning I have to admit I was still excited about this and I woke up very early and spent time when most are still sleeping propped up in bed surrounded by foodie magazines and cook books trying to decide what canapes to make.
I wanted to keep it fairly simple and the lovely Mrs E brought no less than four kinds of canapes as well! We are so lucky to have such lovely neighbors!
After some extensive research I came across a white gazpacho, a delicious sounding recipe from Chef Marcus Waering. I did a trial following the recipe with great exactness as Chef Waering always comes across as a great perfectionist. It was good but hmm, I made just a couple of tweaks. Here is the original recipe, and here is how I made it. It is cobnut season and I could not resist using cobnuts instead of almonds, I came across some fantastic cobnuts at a market stall.
As I wanted a white gazpacho I did actually scrape them, that might have been overkill but the end result was great. It gave me plenty of time to think life through and make some important decisions whilst scraping away.
Cobnut white gazpacho
preparation time 35 minutes if scraping the cobnuts, otherwise 5 minutes
cooking time overnight + 2 minutes
serves 4 as a starter
Ingredients
The gazpacho
- 100 gram or 3.5 oz sourdough bread
- 1.5 dl or 3/4 cup cobnuts, peeled
- 120 gram or 4.2 oz white grapes
- 100 gram or 3.5 oz cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
- 9 roasted garlic cloves
- 1.5 dl or 3/4 cup low fat yogurt
- 1 dl or 1.2 cup water
To garnish
- peel on, seeds removed cucumber
- watermelon
- dried chilli
- lemon flavored rapeseed oil
Cut any crust of the bread and cube it. Toast the cobnuts. Half the grapes and cut the cucumber in to small pieces. Mix the bread, cobnuts, white grapes, cucumber, peeled garlic cloves, yogurt and water and let stand overnight. Before serving place the mixture in the blender and mix until smooth, the cobnuts will give it some texture.
For the garnish cube the cucumber and watermelon fine. I placed the watermelon in the bottom, poured over the gazpacho and garnished with cucumber, lemon oil and dried chillies. I served it with some more dried chilli on the side, just in case anyone wanted it hotter and it all went.
I did some turkey meatballs and served it with home made chilli pickle cucumber and sun dried tomatoes, grown in the greenhouse.
Turkey meatball canapé
The foxes seems to do what they can to play on the veg patch and the vegetables always comes out worse but the beetroots have been spared and I picked a few.
I sliced the beetroot and added flash fried skirt steak and grated over horseradish.
Roasted squash with chorizo.
Prawns were mixed with avocado, rapeseed oil mayonnaise, spring onion, dill and a hint of garlic and served on toast.
Smoked salmon tartar with apple salsa and creme fraiche
My friend L was over for a visit and was instantly invited to make some canapes and after some deliberation she decided to make some chestnut and chocolate brownies, delicious!
Mrs E brought a great selection of canapes, all true crowd pleasing and I have to admit I managed a few myself.
Crab tartlets and chicken tikka filled cups
Almost all invited came, it was a brilliant evening and we all tucked in to the canapes, chatted and drank the night away. The canapes seems to have been a hit, I did end up making more than intended but there was something for everyone.
We started a log fire and spent the evening outside, it was a gorgeous evening and we felt very lucky to have moved to such a gorgeous spot and to already have made so many friends.
This week I decided to bring the canapes to the most fun foodie party around, Fiesta Friday. If you haven’t seen it head over to have a look, it is jam packed with great recipes, in some cases completely new dishes and meet fellow foodies! it is hosted by Angie who this week made the prettiest and innovative rainbow pizza, here is a link to her blog. The co-hosts this week are Andrea, Cooking with a Wallflower and Sylvia, Superfoodista. Andrea’s blog is full of light and delicious recipes and I love Sylvia’s superfood recipes!
What a feast, everything looks amazing, I’ve heard of and have seen recipes for white gazpacho but have never had it, I also have never tasted a cobnut. Would love to give this a try.
hi Suzanne
Thank you, white gazpacho was so easy to make! It was really nice with almonds as well but the cobnuts are nice as they are so fresh and slightly milder in flavor. They have a quite short season so I am always on the lookout, it would of course be even better if I could find a cobnut tree and actually pick some! 🙂 Need to go for more walks where they can grow for next year! If you ever come across them they are also delicious peeled, sliced and just eaten! 🙂
OK Petra, here’s the deal! I want to be your neighbour!! Are you kidding me?? I want to be invited to your canapé parties!! What an amazing spread you had! Oh well, but I think that there is a whole continent and an ocean between our neighbourhoods.. But aside from my whining, may I ask what a cobnut is? It looks a little like a hazelnut?
hi Julianna
oh you do make me smile! I am sure we would make very happy neighbors in real life but guess we will settle for being virtual ones 🙂 It was so much fun making the canapes even if a little stressful just before everyone arrived, I was a total time optimist 🙂
Cobnuts are a relative of the hazelnut and they grow on trees. The season is quite short so I always try and find new ways of cooking them when I can. Their flavor is milder than hazelnuts and they are more delicate.
That spread looks incredible Petra! OMG!! Never heard of a cobnut, need to research it, love the idea of a white gazpacho.
Hi Naina
Thank you 🙂 The white gazpacho was delicious and so easy to make! Cobnuts are delicious but the almonds works as well! I love canapes and almost all of them went I am happy to say! 🙂
I have never seen or eaten a cobnut. Amazing to learn this way. Looks like you had a great party.
hi Elmarie
Thank you, it was a lovely party! 🙂 It was originally an open house until 8 pm and the last guests left well after midnight! Cobnuts are like a larger cousin of hazelnuts and delicious fresh, I have never seen them in a dried version but the gazpacho is delicious with almonds as well 🙂
Wow Petra, what an interesting take on cazpacho! Love it! I have never tried cobnut before I think, I need to see if I can buy them here at all. Really love your contribution for Fiesta Friday – all marvelous party food to share!! Sylvia
hi Sylvia
Thank you 🙂 Cobnuts are delicious if you can find them, otherwise almonds works as well. I am so glad you like the contribution, it was all about sharing 🙂
I love the idea of having a little party where all the neighbors and friends come by to eat. It’d be so much fun to prep and cook little dishes for all those people. But it’d be a lot of work! I have never heard of cobnut or seen it at the supermarket. What does it taste like? Your gazpacho look so amazing. Actually, all your dishes look amazing. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Fiesta Friday!
hi Andrea
Thank you for stopping by 🙂 It was so much fun having the neighbors over and perfect as all they had to do afterwards was to walk next door! It was a bit of work but I was almost ready when everyone arrived, it was only the beef that needed to be flash fried last minute.
There is an abundance of cobnut trees here but I haven’t seen them in the supermarkets, I find them at the veg mongers or at market stalls and I always buy them when I see them! They taste sort of like mild, fresh hazelnuts and are delicious, just toasted or in food! Wouldn’t have missed the delicious FF for anything 🙂
Thank you so much for letting me know what cobnuts are like. I’ll have to look for them =)
Wow! I would have loved to join in this party and tried a bite of everything. You really outdid yourself, Petra, and made such a delicious variety. The smoked salmon and smoked mackerel canapes look delicious, as does the gazpacho and meatballs! Great job, Petra!
hi Ngan
Thank you. It was so much fun and once I realized there would be enough canapes for everyone I could chill out and enjoy some canapes myself! 🙂
What a feast! Everything looks so fancy! I wanna throw a canapé party now 🙂
hi Erica
Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Canapes are fun!
What a beautiful spread! I am sure everyone had their fill. You had a wonderful reason to celebrate.
Hi Maci
Thank you. Any good reason for a party! 🙂
amazing spread ❤ Petra…… hats off !!!
Definitely delicious and worth to try white gazpacho recipe!!
pretty damn beautifully captured too….
hi Dedy
Thank you! The gazpacho is so easy, let me know how it goes! 🙂