Feta, melon, olive & mint skewers

Time for some more fingerfood... although this would be more suited to kick off an Australian barbie or a South African braai, I like to include this in the menu for any cocktail party, even during the winter, as a light and refreshing palate-cleanser. And to be honest, I like this kind of fingerfood when I go to parties myself, merely because you just know what you're letting yourself in for.
I have lost count of the occasions where I've been at a (company Xmas or other soulless) party with very average food and after biting into my third piece of rubbery scallop wrapped in puff pastry (who comes up with these recipes in the first place? There must be a law against such pitiful combinations, surely?!) and (revolting) black pudding buried in a quiche or, even worse, some poor quality meat which is chewy as hell but at least keeps me from having meaningless conversations with people I don't want to talk to in the first place... in such moments you sort of want to know that the next bite you're having is not going to send you running off to McBurgerChicken in a hurry, making sad excuses and looking like the party-pooper that you are.
But sadly, you can't even rely on the waiting staff anymore these days, as more often than not they know as little about the food they're serving as I know about quantum physics or why men couldn't even put the toilet seat down if they're life depended on it. So long live those canapés which you can safely eat without having a trained chef loitering around you and your date for ages, rattling off a gazillion of ingredients and cooking methods that brought to life the tiny bite you're about to shove into your mouth...

Feta, melon, olive & mint skewers*
(yields 20)

200 g feta cheese
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
cracked black pepper
2 tbsp chopped mint
salt
10 black olives (pitted and halved)
20 bite-sized pieces of melon (I used galia, but canteloupe or even watermelon work just as well)
20 mint leaves
20 skewers (or toothpicks)

Cut the feta into 20 even cubes, using a warm knife to prevent it from crumbling and falling apart.
Mix the lime juice, oil, chopped mint together and season with salt and cracked pepper. Pour over the feta in a bowl and leave to infuse for at least an hour, longer if you can.
Assemble by skewering up a mint leaf, a piece of melon, half an olive and a feta cube on the bottom. Arrange on a serving tray.

* Recipe (except for marinade and substituting melon for cucumber) from Eric Treuille's book "Canapés", p. 80)

Comments

[Stephanie]

Oooh...it's wonderful!

Of course, you *know* how much I love little bites like this...!

[Alanna]

Recipes like THIS are the very reason I have a bookmark titled 'easy appetizers'. Wow!

[Pille]

I really like the sound - and look - of these canapes! Thanks for sharing the idea!

[mary g]

I'm planning a bridal shower for my niece in May, and these would be a perfect appetizer.

[nathbala]

I got your link from 101 cook books.I have never seen such a standard,even my blog won't stand up to this standard

[Alanna]

Hi Johanna, Just to let you know I made a variation of these for my book club last night and LOVEd the combination of feta-melon-mint in the lime marinade! (I'll definitely repeat this, perhaps as a salsa with fish or atop a dinner salad ...) I also wrapped thin slices of ham around some of the melon chunks. They looked soo pretty! I did have trouble w the feta cracking, likely because I marinated the cheese all day so it got too soft. I mention this in case it helps your other readers: 8 hours is probably too long!

Anyway thanks for the inspiration.

[Debbie Hannibal]

Hi there
I am from South Africa. Where does one purchase the nifty little bamboo skewers with a twist at the top? I have often looked for them on the net, but with no luck
thanks

[Pat]

You can find the bamboo skewers by googling bamboo twisted skewers or just check out your local asian ethnic grocery store as you may be surprised what you will find.