Cucumber Canaps with Smoked Salmon Mousse dont let the name fool you, this iscinch to make in vast quantities, making it my idea of the perfect finger food! Its an appetiser thats accidentally healthy, with a mere 26 calories per piece.
Wonderful to pass around at parties, this was a hit over the Christmas party season!
CucumberCanaps
These canaps are a terrific combo the cool, juicy cucumber with the rich creamy salmon mousse. But the really great thing about these Cucumber Canaps is that its speedy to make loads of it. Im really not one for fiddly assembly and am always in awe of caterers who put together vast platters of delicately constructed hors doeuvres and finger food that people inhale in one bite!
So one of the reasons these rate highly in my world is that they looklike cute little finger food that took ages to make but with the help of a piping bag, its super quick to assemble!
What you need for this Cucumber Canaps
Heres what you need.This makes around 40 45 pieces.
- Cucumbers Use 3 long cucumbers (Telegraph / English cucumbers) or 6 standard cucumbers (alley Lebanese cucumbers in Australia). I prefer Telegraph cucumbers because they are less watery so when you bite into them, the salmon mousse is diluted less when munching away;
- Smoked salmon orsmoked trout;
- Cream cheese Use the firm block cream cheese. If you can only get the softer spreadable cream cheese sold in tubs (such as in the UK and some parts of Europe), then youll need to skip the sour cream because otherwise the mousse may not be firm enough to hold its shape once piped;
- Sour cream is to lighten up the richness of cream cheese a bit and themayonnaise adds flavour and a touch of richness. These can be omitted / substituted; and
- Dill is a classic pairing with smoked salmon but its also lovely with chives or even just parsley.
Variations
The filling makes a terrific formula to make your own variations of Cucumber Canapes. Switch the salmon and dill with things like sun dried tomato and chives, or olives and shallots, artichoke and spinach. Ive popped some ideas in the recipe notes.
How to make it CucumberCanaps
And heres how to make them:
- Scooping out the cucumber serves 2 purposes: removes the watery centre (so it doesnt dilute the salmon mousse as much when eating it) and makes a well so you get a better ration of cucumber to mousse;
- I use a smallmelon baller but a teaspoon will work just fine, the edge just isnt (usually) as sharp;
- If you do not scoop out the watery centre then just cut thinner cucumber slices and pipe the mousse on top;
- Blitz the salmon mousse until smooth;
- Refrigerate until firm takes around 5 hours;
- Pipeonto the cucumbers. If you dont have a piping bag, you can even just dollop it on once garnished with a sprig of dill, it will pretty it up!
The rich, creamy smoked salmon mousse and fresh crunchy cucumber go together so well!
Sensational make aheadappetiser
This is brilliant transportable finger food thats easy to put together just prior to serving and doesnt require reheating. Piping it onto the cucumber is really fast!
When I served this at a Christmas Party last month, I took the cucumbers already prepared and the mousse already in a piping bag. Spread the cucumber on serving platters, pipe away then top with dill, then walk the platter around and soak up the praises!
Pre dinner cocktails
Pass around trays of these Cucumber Canaps with pre dinner drinks. You could just stick to the usual wine and champagne. or step it up a bit with one of these cocktails!
By the way, just between you and me the Smoked Salmon Mousse is simply my smoked salmon dip blitzed until completely smooth and slightly aerated.
But no one else needs to know that. I mean, restaurants embellish the names of dishes all the time why cant we?
Coulis of seasonal berries with single origin slow roasted legume pate served with homemade snow bread = peanut butter and jam sandwich.
So just tell everyone its a mousse. They wont know any better! Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Cucumber Canaps with Smoked Salmon Mousse
Recipe video above. Fabulous finger food, fast to make vast quantities rather than the usual fiddly assembly! Happens to be HEALTHY. By far the most popular finger food I've served at gatherings in recent years people love the freshness of the cucumber with the richness of the smoked salmon mousse! (Which is just a fancy name for pureed smoked salmon dip LOL!)
Smoked Salmon Mousse:
- 150g / 5 oz smoked salmon ((Note 1))
- 150g / 5 oz Cream Cheese (, softened (I use Philadelphia, Note 2))
- 2 tbsp/ 30g sour cream
- 2 tbsp/ 40g mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup fresh dill (, roughly chopped)
- 1 garlic clove (, minced)
- 2 tsp lemon zest ((1 lemon))
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper (, each (Note 3))
Cucumber:
- 3 long cucumbers (Telegraph / English) (OR 6 standard cucumbers (Note 4))
Garnish:
- Extra dill sprigs
- Lemon slices (, for serving)
Salmon Mousse:
- Place Salmon Mousse ingredients in a food processor. Blitz until completely smooth, scraping down sides as needed.
- Fit piping bag with wide star tip nozzle (1.5-2cm / 0.6 0.75 wide), then transfer Mousse into piping bag. Refrigerate for 5 hours until firmed.
Cucumbers:
- Cut into 1.5cm thick / 0.6 slices.
- Use a small melon baller or teaspoon to scoop a well out.
Assemble:
- Pipe mousse into cucumbers. Top with dill and serve immediately.
1. Salmon can be substituted with smoked trout or other smoked fish (even if not thin slices like smoked salmon)
2. Cream cheese in the UK and some parts of Europe, you can only get spreadable cream cheese in tubs which is softer than block cream cheese. In this case, skip the sour cream.
3. Salt the smoked salmon is very salty and it releases it into the mixture, so go easy on the salt.
4. Cucumbers the long ones are better because they are less watery, so they dont dilute the mousse as much when eating. But the short ones work just as well!
Scooping better ratio of cucumber to mousse, and also removes watery centre.
If you cant be bothered to scoop out the centre, make the cucumber slices slightly thinner so you end up with a similar ratio of cucumber to mousse.
5. Making ahead place mousse in piping bag, ready to pipe. Keep up to 3 days in fridge. Cut and prepare cucumber. Assemble just before serving.
Once assembled, the cucumber starts sweating at around 30 45 minutes (still super tasty though!).
6. Variations these are variations I served at a gathering last month using the same base mousse recipe:
- Sun-dried tomato switch salmon and chives with 225g/7oz sun dried tomato strips in oil (including oil) and chives. Blitz until smooth, use per recipe (makes slightly more in quantity)
- Olive switch salmon with 200g/6.5oz green or black olives, and parsley or chives for dill. Blitz until ALMOST fully smooth little bits of olive is nice.
7. Nutrition per piece.
More bite size food to pass around at parties
Food you can eat with one hand while clutching a wine glass rates highly in my world.
Life of Dozer
He loves the pool in our new home!! He doesnt reallyleap gracefully into it. More like an awkward belly flop
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