Herbed cream cheese radishes rolled in pumpkin seeds

I know the autumn can be a bit dreadful, but once I've jumped the hurdle of taking my winter coat out of the attic (just as a figure of speech. We don't have an attic. And I can't for the life of me remember  where my bloody coat is!), things start to look up. After all, the cold season also bring me endless hours in front of the fireplace (and endless questions of how Santa could possibly squeeze through and land in the flames and even if, wouldn't he be carrying all that soot around the house which is certain to upset mummy?), comfort food and mulled wine. And it is the party season!

I usually start the party season off with a catering I am doing for some good friends of ours and their parties are always something to look forward to. You see, they have friends who actually eat. They love to eat, they love to try out new things and I can devise a finger food menu that is not only varied, but also a bit more adventurous than what you would get from M&S. They don't ask me to do cocktail sausages or pork rolls, they don't limit their options by being incredibly picky ("uh, no I don't actually like quiche and X doesn't eat fish and oh, is that goat's cheese in there? Actually, maybe don't serve anything with cheese or fish or meat... ham's fine, though! Ah, and pork pies!)

Always on the lookout for some eye catchers, I stumbled across a press release for a new book by some wonderful fellow bloggers which was just published in France - and I couldn't resist playing around with the teaser recipe. Now, try as I may, I could not enhance the recipe enough to make any sense of the now completely blurred letters, so I just stole the idea and created my own. I love this little number because for once, there's a healthy and wholesome canape - I love my mini blue cheese quiches with confit onion and foie gras truffles rolled in gingerbread crumbs topped with apple compote (recipe to follow) as much as the next person, but seriously light and refreshing finger food is hard to come by. A simple radish, cut in half and filled with herbed gervais, then rolled in chopped pumpkin seeds is just the ticket and bound to please any vegetarians in your party or those friends who're renouncing themselves the joys of bread... unimaginable as that may be. Who said party food couldn't be healthy?

Herbed cream cheese radishes rolled in pumpkin seeds
(makes 12)

12 fresh rashishes (stalks on)
4 tbsp cream cheese
2 heaped tbsp freshly chopped herbs (chives, dill, parsley, oregano, etc)
salt & pepper to taste
4 tbsp pumpkin seeds (the darker the colour, the better)

Thoroughly wash the radishes and cut the stalks so that only 1-2 cm remains on the radish. Cut off the root in a way that allows you to stabilise the radish on a plate.

Combine the cream cheese and herbs until very smooth, season to taste. Chop the pumpkin seeds finely with a sharp knife and put them into a shallow bowl. Cut the radishes in half and leave cut sides down on a kitchen towel to "bleed" out. You want the cut side to be dry so the cream cheese will stick.

Spoon some of the cream cheese on the bottom half of each radish and put the top back on. Squeeze lightly to even out the cheese and make the two halves stick together.

Roll the "waist" in pumpkin seeds (they will stick to the cream cheese, not the radish) and place on a serving plate.

Comments

[FoodJunkie]

These are so cute and yummy! A friend of mine gave ne a big pot of fresh sheep's cheese and I have been thinking of cool ways to use it (apart from eating it with a spoon...), so this is going to make my top ten list!

[Sylvie]

Wow, they look so impressive. I'll have ti remember them next time I have friend's round for nibbles!

[Helen]

I agree - light and refreshing finger food is EXTREMELY hard to come by. It is so nice to see something that isn't pastry based or even worse, fried. A nice creaminess from the cheese and then a crunchy , spicy radish - yummy!

[Jude]

Looks so cute. The textures must be amazing on this one.

[Stacey Snacks]

Just found your wonderful blog.
These radishes are beautiful!
Go figure, a lowly, little radish can look this good!

[Margaret]

This is possibly the best photograph I have seen this year. How can so few ingredients look this good?

[Jeanne]

Clever and adorable - always a winning combo! Looking forward to helping out with the catering gig next month :)

[Inne]

Friends who actually eat are the best! Such a wonderful yet easy/simple idea for a mouthwatering canape.