Boat Bruschetta

You know how one thinks of about a thousand smart things to say after the put down, well the same with me and entertaining. I'm not one of those 'oooh-just-happened-to have-it-in-the-freezer' kind of people and rarely can whip up anything quickly (apart from myself) and so it was this past weekend.

There we were on our bareboat catamaran from the Moorings BVI, enjoying an apertif with the sun setting behind St Thomas Yacht Club. We had sailed over for the weekend with other families from the Royal BVI Yacht Club  so that our sailor children could take part in the Martin Luther King Regatta. The occasion called for some canapes, but the most we could offer up at the time was some shop-bought ham on Tyler's good multigrain loaf cut into teeny squares, which was good enough - but I did long for something a tad more elegant. Bruschetta (pronounced 'bruce-ketta')  immediately came to mind, not that we had the wherewithal that particular evening. A  bit of planning, as always, is required. 

                                                            Boat Bruschetta

Grab some baguettes and pre-prepare a couple of 'toppings' at home and then plonk them, when cooled,  into tupperwares. The only real worry is to make sure that there is a good bread knife on board and how to switch on the gas (Hot Tip: Ask the Captain). After some quick slicing, grilling and spooning all that there is left to do is to lightly trip up on to the deck bearing platters with the ease of a Nigella, which frankly I've been practising in the mirror for years

Israeli Hummus

2 tins chickpeas

4 large crushed garlic cloves

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend/pulse chickpeas with all the ingredients. Keep it a bit grainy - don't overblend. Keep tasting for the right balance of tahini, cumin, garlic and seasoning.

Mushrooms with truffle oil

1 big punnet of Portobella mushrooms, wiped free of grit, chopped small

Knob of butter & slug of good olive oil

1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

2 crushed garlic cloves

1 tsp truffle oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Quickly fry off sliced mushrooms in butter & olive oil in a smoking frying pan

In a bowl, add finely diced parsley and the truffle oil to the mushrooms

Add seasoning to taste, and a few drops more truffle oil if the flavour is not quite there. The truffle oil should not be too overpowering and the taste of mushrooms should be foremost

Tapenade

Rick Stein's recipe works for us

1 cup pitted black olives

2 Anchovy fillets

2 tbsp capers

3 crushed garlic cloves

Salt & pepper to taste

Whizz everything together in the food processor. Take care again not too overdo it or you'll end up with olive baby puree - yuch.

You will also need some good bread. We use our bakery's sourdough baguettes:

To put it all together:

1. Get some colour onto the bread by grilling on a hot griddle
2. With the help of some young sailors, quickly plate up and rub garlic cloves onto the toasted bread and sparsly drizzle with some olive oil
3. Make sure all the 'toppings' are at room temperature and then heap onto the bread
4. Serve looking breezy and nautical

                                                                        Salut !