Elevate Your Christmas Menu:
✨Festive Inspiration from Steve Shore✨
Looking for fresh ideas to elevate your Christmas menu?
Each week, our Development Chef Steve Shore will be sharing simple, high-impact festive dishes you can bring straight into your kitchen — from elegant appetisers to flavour-packed sides and seasonal twists on classics.
We’ll be adding new recipes regularly, with the most recent at the top.
Check back each week for more inspiration to help your festive menu shine.
Devils on Horseback
You've got the delicious saltiness of the bacon and the fattiness against the sweetness of the dates.
Steve’s method:
1. Remove all of the seeds from the dates you will be using.
2. Individually wrap each date with a piece of streaky bacon, just once around.
3. Place in the oven and cook until browned.
4. To serve, insert a decorative cocktail stick through the middle of each one to hold the bacon in place, and to make it easier for customers to pick up.
Salty and sweet, one of our personal favourites!
Puff Pastry with Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
A flavorsome, light appetiser filled with delicious smoked salmon.
Steve’s method:
1.Use either ready rolled pastry, or a block, and spread it out to be flat.
2. Next, add smoked salmon, sundried tomatoes and mustard in a line down the centre. Cover the edge of the pastry with egg to create stickiness.
3. Roll it all up into a sausage roll style shape, using the sticky egg area to hold it together, then place in the fridge to chill.
4. Finally, remove from the fridge and cut the roll equally into smaller sections, then bake in the oven until golden brown.
Serve hot or cold, they're simple but bursting with fresh flavour.
Aubergine Caponata
Unique and vibrant, as well as fresh and moreish, they're bound to catch your customers eye!
Steve’s method:
1. Start by cutting up: aubergine, peppers, celery, onion and a small bit of garlic.
2. Add all of the cut up vegetables into a frying pan and fry together, then add in some chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer.
3. Take small pastry cases and spoon some of the vegetables into each one, then add capers, pine kernels and a generous helping of parmesan.
With so many different flavours and textures, it creates the perfect small bites option.
Saffron New Potatoes, Smoked Salmon & Crème Fraîche
Saffron new potatoes, silky smoked salmon, and a dollop of crème fraîche come together in a beautifully delicate, indulgent dish.
Steve’s method:
1. Take a small piece of Smoked Salmon and place in the centre of your saffron potato squares.
2. Add a small amount of crème fraîche on top of the salmon.
3. Next, use a potato peeler to cut slithers of cucumber, and then marinate them for one hour in a simple pickling vinegar.
4. Now place the pickled cucumber on top of the crème fraîche, and finish with a little bit of rocket to give it a slight pepperiness.
They're light, fresh and bound to be a popular appetiser on your festive menu!
Smoked Salmon Mousseline with Dill Pearls
A refreshing salmon mousse with a fresh pop of dill flavour.
Steve’s method:
1. Put smoked salmon, crème fraîche, lemon and cream into a robot-coupe and blend simply.
2. Place the mousse into a piping bag and add an equal amount to each tart case.
3. Now for the star of the show, the dill pearls, use a teaspoon and carefully place a few on the top of each tartlet, with a small amount dill to follow.
The salmon mousse mixed with the flavour pop of the dill pearls creates the most delicious, fresh flavour.
Hot Smoked Salmon paired with Beetroot, Horseradish and Red Amaranth
Hot smoked salmon meets earthy beetroot, fiery horseradish, and delicate red amaranth
Steve’s method:
1. Cut equal, circular pieces of beetroot and place a similar size portion of salmon on top.
2. Next, take a small amount of horseradish in the centre of each appetiser.
3. To present, put some red amaranth on top for a festive finish!
They're fiery and moreish, the perfect appetiser to serve this season.
Foie Royale with Quince Jelly & Balsamic Pearls
A refined, beautifully balanced bite that delivers festive luxury with minimal prep.
Foie Royale — made from ethically produced duck livers — brings a rich, buttery depth that pairs perfectly with the sweet sharpness of quince and the punch of balsamic.
How Steve builds it:
1. Cut the quince jelly into neat, equal-sized cubes.
2. Slice the Foie Royale into matching pieces and layer on top of the quince.
3. Finish with a few balsamic pearls for an instant burst of acidity.
Elegant, quick to assemble, and full of festive flavour — ideal for grazing boards, appetisers or canapé menus.
Chicken Liver Parfait Tartlets with Sticky Mushrooms & Pickled Shallots
A moreish Christmas canapé with layers of savoury richness, sweetness and acidity.
Steve’s method:
1. Spoon Chicken Liver Parfait into mini tart cases, keeping portions even.
2. Sauté mushrooms until soft, then glaze with mirin and soy for a sticky, umami-rich finish.
3. Add a small amount of the sticky mushrooms on top of each tartlet.
4. Finish with finely sliced pickled shallots for brightness and a festive pop of flavour.
The result? A perfectly balanced bite — creamy, earthy, sweet, sharp — that’s guaranteed to be a hit on festive menus.
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