We’re all about no-fuss feasting this festive season, and what better way to do it than with canapés? Sweet potato crostini is always a dinner party winner!

SERVES 6–8 // COOKING TIME 1 hour

INGREDIENTS
2 sweet potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
250 g cream cheese
3 forelle pears, sliced
Handful thyme
Handful micro herbs
4 tbsp walnuts, toasted
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Slice the sweet potatoes into ½ cm-thick rounds and lay on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 20 minutes, until the edges are crisp. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
3. To assemble, spread cream cheese on each sweet-potato round, arrange a few pieces of pear on top, and garnish with thyme, herbs, walnuts and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Recipe & styling: Chiara Turilli
Photography: Andreas Eiselen // HMimages.co.za

Check out our pick of tasty salads to add to your dinner party menu.

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With plenty to choose from, these charred mushrooms with crostini and walnut gremolata make yummy appetisers straight from the forest.

SERVES 4 // COOKING TIME 30 min

INGREDIENTS
6 saffron milk caps
6 tbsp olive oil
⅓ cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Handful parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove , peeled and crushed
1 baguette, sliced lengthways
4 tbsp softened butter

METHOD
1. Drizzle the mushrooms with 1 tbsp oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Char the mushrooms. Set aside to cool, then slice thinly.
3. For the gremolata, mix the remaining 5 tbsp oil, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, parsley and garlic. Leave for 15 minutes.
4. For the crostini, spread the baguette slices with plenty of butter. Grill in the oven until the bread is golden.
5. Serve the charred mushrooms with the walnut gremolata and crostini.

Recipe & styling: Chiara Turilli
Photography: Andreas Eiselen // HMimages.co.za

Leftover shrooms? Save them for this sourdough, mushrooms, rocket and goat’s cheese stack.

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This beautifully plated and fancy-sounding dish will come together in mere minutes with ingredients from the ready-made section of your local supermarket. Serve this gorgeous pumpkin soup to start the next time you have guests over and they’ll think you’ve been slaving away for hours. But don’t worry, we won’t tell…

SERVES 4 // COOKING TIME 30 min

INGREDIENTS
500 g ready-made pumpkin soup
1 mini baguette
½ cup plain cream cheese
200 g smoked snoek, deboned and flaked
100 g artichokes, chargrilled and marinated
4 Peppadews, thinly sliced
80 g sugar snap peas, steamed
Micro-rocket, to garnish

METHOD
1. Warm the soup over medium heat.
2. Cut the baguette in quarters so you have four long, thin slices. Toast the slices.
3. Put the cream cheese in a piping bag and pipe on to each piece of bread in dollops.
4. Arrange the snoek, artichokes, Peppadews and sugar snap peas between the dollops of cream cheese. Garnish with micro-rocket.
5. Divide the warm pumpkin soup between four bowls and serve with the crostini.

The post Pumpkin soup with smoked snoek and Peppadew crostini appeared first on MyKitchen.

When the weather is hot and you’re having guests over, the last thing you need is to spend hours in the kitchen. Our advice? Quick-to-prep shared plates of food and our gorgeous prosciutto crostini tick all the boxes!

SERVES 6 // COOKING TIME 15 min

INGREDIENTS
1 baguette, thinly sliced
100 ml olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
300g ricotta, crumbled
200g prosciutto
8 ripe figs, quartered
Sea salt flakes

METHOD
1. Brush the baguette slices with olive oil and lightly toast in a toaster.
2. Top with ricotta, a slice of prosciutto and figs. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

The post Ricotta, fig and prosciutto crostini appeared first on MyKitchen.