Verity Walcott: Cheese Sablé Smoked Salmon Canapés

by Verity Walcott

A few years ago, my Sicilian husband and I left the chaos of London and moved to the picturesque city of Bath. The slowdown in pace brought me back to fumbling around in the kitchen, determined to make use of all the forgotten kitchen equipment I had accumulated over the years. I started playing with flavours, developing recipes, and documenting the successes and failures of making food. This has led me to train in a cooking school and fulfil a full-time career in Recipe development, and Food Styling. 

My cooking is inspired and I’m influenced by what was on my childhood family table. We were a Caribbean family growing up in the southwest of England, I have fond memories of enjoying a hot Caribbean stew followed by a very British dessert like Jam to Polly. My memories of childhood food are built around the merging of cultures & and now extend to my world travels in Africa, Italy, Brazil and Southeast Asia. I am passionate about sweet things with clotted cream, and lemons, old-school British desserts, cheeseboards and pasta with a glass of wine. 

Ingredients (Makes 10–12)

Cheese Sablé Biscuit:

• 125g chilled unsalted butter
• 125g plain flour
• 120g Parmesan, finely grated (extra for topping)
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper

Pickled Gin Carrots:

• 100g sugar
• 200ml water
• 50g apple cider vinegar
• 4-6 carrots, thinly sliced lengthways
• 90ml/ 3oz Mirabeau Dry Rosé Gin

Toppings:

• Smoked salmon
• Crème fraîche
• Chive

Method

1. Using a large grater, grate the cold butter into a large bowl.
2. Add the flour and use your fingertips to achieve a breadcrumb-like texture.
3. Add the salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.
4. Using a fine grater, grate the parmesan cheese and stir into the mix. Bring the dough together between your hands. Roll it into a ball and wrap it in cling film to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour (or you can leave the dough overnight in preparation for the following day).
5. In the meantime, make the gin pickle by placing sugar, water, apple cider vinegar, and the gin in a large heat-proof pan. Heat the pan on medium heat, and remove it once the sugar has completely dissolved.
6. Peel the carrots, then using the peeler or mandoline slice the carrots into strips.
7. Pour gin pickle into a bowl or container. Add the sliced carrots to the liquid and allow the carrots to soak in this for at least 30 minutes.
8. When you are ready to bake your sablé biscuits, preheat your oven to 180°C then line two baking trays with baking parchment.
9. Take the chilled dough out of the fridge, and allow it to come to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
10. When ready to shape the biscuits, lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to roughly 4-5mm thick.
11. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the sablé biscuits.
12. Place them on the baking trays allowing each enough room to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
13. Remove the carrots from the gin pickle. Pat each carrot dry with clean paper towels, then roll and curl the carrots into little roses.
14. Once your sablé biscuits are completely cool, grate a little parmesan cheese onto them.
15. Build up your canapé by adding smoked salmon, followed by a spoonful of crème fraîche, add the pickled carrot rose, and finish with a few chives.

Pair with our Mirabeau Pure Rosé and enjoy!