sweet-pea canapes & homemade crackers

two weekends ago i finally got around to trying out the sweet-pea canapes recipe from gourmet magazine. the recipe seems a bit involved, but is actually quite easy. and, instead of using toasted slices of baguette, i enlisted cavin's help: he made crackers from scratch that i served the pea mousse on. the only thing i would change is maybe to not use as much ham on top of the canapes; it was a little overpowering for the pea mousse. overall, it was a mighty fine recipe that i would definitely make again if i needed to make an appetizer for a small gathering.

this makes about 48 hors d'oeuvres, but i bet you could cut the recipe in half if you didn't need that many canapes.

sweet-pea canapes
2 1/4 cups frozen baby (petite) peas
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup chilled heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp finely grated parmigiano-reggiano
homemade crackers
1/4 lb very thinly sliced baked ham

simmer peas with water in a saucepan, covered, until tender (~5 minutes). puree peas with water in a food processor (gourmet says not to use a blender!) until very smooth. force puree through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and discard solids. chill until cold.

beat cream with salt and pepper in another bowl until it holds stiff peaks, 3-5 minutes. (cavin says beating the cream in a chilled bowl makes the entire process go a little faster.) fold in pea puree and cheese until just combined. chill pea mousse, covered. (you can probably make the crackers while the pea mousse is chilling.)

spoon a dollop of mousse onto each cracker, then top with a small piece of ham (torn from a slice). serve immediately. [note: pea mousse can be chilled up to 8 hours.]


homemade crackers
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp water (plus more as necessary)
pinch salt
~1/2 to 1 tbsp flavorings, if desired (i.e. sesame seeds, curry powder, black pepper, etc.)

preheat oven to 350F. mix together flour, salt, and flavorings (if using) - in the picture we made sesame crackers. add olive oil and mix. add water and mix until a dough forms, adding more water (in 1/4 tsp increments) if necessary. roll out dough mixture, adding flour to rolling pin and working surface so dough doesn't stick. roll out the dough to the desired thinness (1/16" works ok). prick the dough with a fork all over, and cut into the desired shapes. (if you want salted crackers, sprinkle a bit on each cracker before you bake.) bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes, until crackers are golden brown, or to your likeness. this should make about a dozen crackers, depending on thickness and size of each cracker.

[note: you can also use butter instead of olive oil, just cut small pieces butter into the flour (1/2 to 1 tsp butter should suffice). using the olive oil is easier to mix in with the dry ingredients, but the crackers don't come out as flaky. my only advice is to not use vegetable oil. the crackers had an awful after taste and we had to throw the vegetable oil batch out.]