Easy Appie #4: Gruyère With Truffle Purée

Like nothing you’ve tasted before, this decadent truffle infused hors d’oeuvre is made under 10 minutes.

ENTERTAIN SMART | When she isn’t busy shooting portraits or working as Frugalbits’s photo editor and chief photographer, Casey Phaisalakani loves to eat and then blog about it on fingerlickineats.com. Phaisalakani grew up in Hong Kong, a city rich in culinary diversions, in a family jazzed about eating good food. Her mother, a keen amateur cook who enjoys entertaining, first whipped up this appetizer—a dead easy three-ingredient affair made of truffle purée and gruyère on toasty bread—as an amuse bouche to enjoy before a soup course at a formal diner she was hosting. It proved so popular her family now serves it as an hors d’oeuvre at cocktail parties or for tea time.

While her mother’s version calls for white bread cut like English tea sandwiches, Phaisalakani prefers to use a chewy baguette or crispy crostini. “My mother uses black truffle purée, but for this photo we used the white truffle version, which is a little lighter, though both have a penetrating flavour, so you never use more than a dot.”

Casey Phaisalakani’s Recipe For Gruyère With Truffle Purée On Baguette Rounds

1 300g slab of gruyère cut into thin slices to sit on bread rounds
1 French baguette cut into 1/2 inch rounds
1 2.8-oz jar truffle purée ($12.99 at Whole Foods and enough for up to 100 appies)

Preheat oven to 218C (425F). Cut baguette into rounds. Place pieces of cheese on top of the bread arranged on a cookie sheet. Pop the sheet in the oven just until the cheese is melted (one minute plus). Remove bread from oven and place a dot of purée on top of each piece. One standard length baguette can make up to 40 rich appetizers, which are best served warm.

Photo: Casey Phaisalakani