So it’s BBQ and outdoor party season. I hear you all ask, what should I should be serving for my canapes which are delicious, exciting, and of course, vegan!? At The Vegan Larder, we adore an outdoor party (luckily Louise has the best garden for entertaining - you’re all welcome!) so we’ll be showing you some of our favourite canapes. This Carrot and Caraway Puree on Rosemary Sea salt Crackers is one of my favourites. All very easy with a brilliant crunch to the crackers which have the classic rosemary and sea salt combination, topped with carrot which is brightly coloured and flavoured with the much underrated caraway seed.
Canapes are a great way to impress guests; they look beautiful and you can get so creative with them.
The crackers are very very easy to make, and they can also be stored for weeks in an airtight container, and used for your next garden party topped with something else. I’ve chosen to use plain white flour for these crackers, but a wholemeal flour will also work just fine. You can put some sugar in (I go for coconut palm sugar, which is the healthiest) but this optional - it just gives a hint of sweetness which tastes great in this canape.
Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs, and with sea salt it’s just a classic taste. Of course you can make these crackers plain with no rosemary, or just other herbs. And if you’d like to reduce the salt content, feel free!
The puree is the best bit. This can be used as a dip too, but it’s delicious on the cracker. When I first made it, I used the half the amount of carrots I have put in the recipe. They shrunk down so much I left my guests disappointed that there wasn’t more! You can make even more if you want, and maybe just freeze it if you think you won’t get through it. Although I doubt you’ll have a problem - your guests will love it!
Caraway seeds are underused and underrated. It’s great to try flavours outside the usual cumin and coriander (although we love those too!). Caraway seeds actually look very similar to cumin seeds, but have quite a different taste. They have a milder flavour, and a hint of liquorice. Of course you are welcome to use other spices (cumin would be a classic) if you want. Then add more or less garlic to taste - you really can make this your own.
We served ours with extra sprigs of rosemary sprinkled around the platter for a pop of green!
Look out for more of our vegan canape ideas which we’ll be blogging about over summer!
Vegan Canape of Carrot and Caraway Puree on Rosemary Sea Salt Crackers
Ingredients
Rosemary and Sea Salt Crackers
- 1.5 cups plain white flour
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- ½ tsp brown sugar / coconut palm sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary (washed and finely chopped)
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup water
- Extra sea salt for sprinkling
- Extra flour for dusting
- A bit of water for sprinkling over the crackers
Carrot and Caraway Puree
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tsp caraway seeds
- 800 g carrots, chopped
- 600 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
- Packet of dill (for garnish)
Instructions
Rosemary and Sea Salt Crackers
- Pre-heat oven to 220 C.
- In a bowl, put the flour, sugar, salt and rosemary. Mix well.
- Then add water and oil. Mix well.
- Take a piece of baking parchment which is just a bit bigger than the baking tray and lightly dust it with flour.
- Turn the dough out onto the baking parchment and roll it until it is 3mm thick. If the dough is sticky, dust with more flour. You can trim the edges if you want - these will cook quicker as they are a bit thinner.
- Using a pizza cutter or a blunt knife, cut the dough into small squares (or size of choice). Brush the squares with some water and sprinkle with more sea salt on. Then prick each square a few times with a fork.
- Place the dough (still on the parchment) on to a baking tray and put in oven.
- Bake for around 15 minutes. The crackers should be golden once ready. They may need another 5 minutes longer.
Carrot and Caraway Puree
- Heat the oil in a pot with a medium heat. Then add the shallot and sea salt. Cook for around 5 minutes or until the shallot is soft.
- Stir in the garlic and caraway seeds, cooking for another minute.
- Add the carrots, veg stock and chili flakes. Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on for 15-20 minutes until carrot is soft.
- Drain the carrots and reserve the liquid.
- Blitz the carrots to a smooth puree. Then add a bit of the reserved liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until you have the desired consistency for the dip. Dip can be kept in the fridge until ready to serve.
To assemble the canape
- Spoon dip on to crackers, and top with herbs to garnish.
Leave a Reply