Caviar Canapes

I like to make this dish on special occasions such as Christmas or New Years Eve, although it would work well for any party, any time of the year. I was first introduced to caviar at a friend's party many years ago, and I've never looked back. The blobs of black may not seem particularly appealing, but if you enjoy eating fish roe in Japanese cuisine, such as tobiko (flying fish roe), ikura (salmon roe) and tarako (salted pollock roe), chances are you will most likely also enjoy caviar. 

Good quality black caviar from sturgeon fish can be ridiculously expensive, so I generally use lumpfish roe, which is the cheaper alternative, although you could of course use either one for this recipe. 

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Caviar Canapes
(makes a decent sized bowl)

1 bottle 100g black caviar (or black lumpfish caviar)
4 large eggs (normal chicken eggs)
1/4 red onion
juice of half a lemon

1. Hard boil the eggs. Place the eggs, in a small saucepan. Cover the eggs with cold water (the water level should be just above the eggs). Put a lid on the saucepan and heat over medium high heat until the water is boiling. Turn the heat down a little and simmer rapidly for 4 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the saucepan as is while you prepare the onions and lemon juice. (You want the egg yolks to be hard and cooked through.)

2. Chop 1/4 red onion as finely as possible and place in a medium-sized bowl. (If you are not a raw onion fan, make sure you chop the onion into really, really small bits). Squeeze the lemon.

3. When the eggs are ready, peel them, and pat them dry. Separate the egg yolks from the egg white by slicing into each egg carefully to remove the yolk.

4. Finely chop the egg whites. In a separate small bowl, mash the egg yolks with a fork until powdery.

5. Add the egg white, egg yolk, caviar and lemon juice to the onion, and gently toss together with a fork until well combined. Taste and season with more lemon juice if necessary.

6. Serve the caviar on top of something hard and crunchy, such as a crispy vol-au-vent, or the more traditional melba toast. I feel obliged to add that due to the amount of eggs in this dish (caviar plus chicken eggs), it probably isn't good to eat a lot of it if you are watching your cholesterol.

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