Vegetarian Avocado & Mango Salad Tortilla Cups January 12, 2026January 12, 2026 Warm-weather Appetiser: When you are the one hosting & you’re craving something fun and fresh with summery vibes, this little warm-weather appetiser might be one perfect option for you. It’s packed with bright flavours, looks gorgeous on a platter, and genuinely takes the pressure off when it is only you in the kitchen. Summer entertaining can feel a bit same-same– the grazing board comes out, someone brings chips, someone else brings dip, and before you know it, the table looks exactly like the last ten events. So why not shake things up with something that still feels easy, but also feels… Continue Reading
Vegetarian Dried Apricots & Raspberry Feta November 29, 2025November 29, 2025 Garden Party Appetiser: Why Middle Eastern Apricots Make the Ultimate Garden Party Appetiser? Well for starters, when it comes to elevating a simple dried fruit and cheese platter, not all apricots are created equal. Middle Eastern apricots add a whole lot more luxury to fruit & cheese platters than their local Australian counterparts. Their flavour, texture, and sheer presence on the plate bring an entirely different level of indulgence. Middle Eastern apricots are naturally sizeable, plump, juicy, and beautifully vibrant, offering a richer sweetness and softer bite. Their generous size also makes them incredibly versatile- large enough to confidently carry savoury… Continue Reading
Beef Spicy Pastrami Sandwich Bites November 22, 2025November 27, 2025 Mini Toasted Sandwich: Some recipes come together by accident – a handful of good ingredients you’ve got on hand, a craving you can’t quite name – and suddenly you’ve made something you can’t stop eating which brings me to these mini toasted sandwich appetisers. That’s exactly how these Mini Pastrami & Jalapeño Sandwich Bites came to life. They’re creamy, crunchy, tangy, and spicy all at once – everything you want in a bite-sized snack. These mini toasted sandwich bites look like party food, but honestly, I’d make them just for myself. Perfect for a lazy lunch, a picnic spread, or a… Continue Reading
Seafood Squid Ink Spaghetti With Basil Pesto October 21, 2025October 21, 2025 Stylish Appetiser Bites: Squid ink pasta is one of those ingredients that immediately makes a dish feel a little more high-end, so perfect if you are looking for stylish appetiser bites. There’s something undeniably striking about those glossy black strands on a plate- they command attention before anyone even tastes a bite. I love using black pasta when I want stylish appetiser bites that feel bold & dramatic, but without spending a long time prepping. Squid Ink spaghetti is rich and savoury, but not too heavy when served as an appetiser, and it’s the perfect blank canvas for something fresh… Continue Reading
Vegetarian Potato Rosti With Zesty Tomato Salsa October 6, 2025October 11, 2025 Fresh & Zesty Finger Food: I’ve always loved using potatoes as a base for fresh & zesty finger food as well as heartier bites, since potato is a popular ingredient for party snacks, & rosti are just perfect for that. A little different to latke, which typically use a binder (egg and flour) & similar to the hash brown, rosti is made with grated potato, butter (or a fat), lightly seasoned, and baked until the edges get that slightly caramelised crunch, making these crispy appetiser bites irresistible. Shape them into little nests for edible vessels that are fillable with almost… Continue Reading
Meat Blinis With Goat Cheese & Pear September 29, 2025October 6, 2025 Sweet & Savoury Canapés: I have used this combination of ingredients many times when wanting to showcase both sweet & savoury canapés. The blini itself is a soft, spongy little pillow, a mini pancake if you like & the perfect canapé base that supports everything piled on top without competing for attention. Goat cheese, prosciutto, pear, honey & walnuts have long been a winning combination, with so many ways you can present them…on a crostini, in the pear itself, baked, fresh, in witlof leaves, rolled in a crepe or on a blini to name a few. For these sweet &… Continue Reading
Uncategorized Mini Edamame Falafel Smash Tacos September 22, 2025October 6, 2025 Mini Smash Tacos: Smash tacos are trending right now, and I can definitely see the appeal as they’re cute, casual, flavour-packed, so these mini smash tacos make the perfect appetiser for a crowd. Forget the heavy, oversized versions you might grab for lunch- these little numbers are designed to be eaten in just a couple of bites, which makes these mini smash tacos ideal for parties, platters, or even a casual family night in. For my plant-based version, I created an edamame falafel smash taco, and they lasted about as long as it took me to plate them up. These… Continue Reading
Seafood Waffle Fries With Prawn & Pickle September 15, 2025September 15, 2025 Waffle Fry Party Bites: Sometimes appetisers need a little drama, and nothing delivers quite like waffle fry party bites. Instead of your everyday golden spud, try coloured potatoes- suddenly you’ve got a chip that looks like it’s dressed for a party. I recently picked up some midnight purple potatoes at the farmer’s market, and they were too pretty not to play with- you could do the same thing with sweet potato. Once sliced into waffle fries, the purple potato crisped up with this gorgeous jewel-toned hue that instantly stole the show on the platter. To keep the toppings snappy, I… Continue Reading
Sweet Treats Mini Choc Orange Waffle Cones September 11, 2025September 15, 2025 Waffle Cone Dessert Canapés: I’ve had a long-running obsession with chocolate and orange- it’s one of those flavour pairings that never fails, so this little waffle cone dessert canapé idea, didn’t exactly require overthinking. Growing up in New Zealand, my go-to sweet treat at the movies was always RJ’s Jaffas. Without fail, I’d make it halfway through the trailers before I’d demolished the entire bag (or box, depending on how committed I was that day). Sadly, RJ’s stopped making them earlier this year I believe, and while that feels like the end of a delicious era, my attraction to choc-orange… Continue Reading
Seafood Crumbed Saganaki & Red Pepper Sauce September 1, 2025September 1, 2025 Greek Cheese Appetiser: There is nothing nicer than grilled or pan-fried cheese fullstop but, in this Greek cheese appetiser, that golden, sizzling, salty bite that instantly makes it irresistible & for a cheese fiend like myself, it is going to grab attention. And if you really want to take the grilled cheese experience up a notch, Greek crumbed Saganaki is the way to do it. Saganaki, if you haven’t tried it before, is a Greek cheese appetiser, made from a semi-hard cheese (often kefalograviera or kasseri), that holds its shape beautifully when pan-fried. Similar to Haloumi, in fact, Haloumi is… Continue Reading
Sweet Treats Pistachio Cream Stroopwafels August 25, 2025August 25, 2025 Bite-size Dessert Stroopwafel: I took inspiration from the Dutch favourite, the stroopwafel, for this sweet, bite-size dessert, and honestly, its a ‘love’ story nearly 30 years in the making. Back in the late ’90s, I was living in Saudi Arabia, and that’s where I had my first stroopwafel. My Dutch workmate, Marike (thanx Marike!), would head home to Holland on leave and return with a suitcase packed with those golden, syrup-filled waffles. She shared them around the office, and I was instantly hooked. A Dutch sweet syrup waffle, chewy in the warmer weather and sensationally crunchy in the cold, stroopwafels are… Continue Reading
Seafood Tuna Gochujang Crispy Rice Bites August 11, 2025August 11, 2025 Asian-inspired Appetisers: Crispy rice is one of those things having a real moment right now…it’s popping up on social feeds everywhere, and for good reason…a gamechanger for Asian-inspired appetisers. It makes such a great alternative canapé base, especially for bite-size flavours. My own introduction to crispy rice goes way back to my travel days. I had a then-boyfriend who would intentionally overcook rice so it stuck to the bottom of the pot and turned golden and crunchy. At the time, I thought it was some quirky kitchen mishap… but one bite in and I was hooked. For years after, I found… Continue Reading