Canapé-Style Toast Skagen Recipe

Nothing says cocktail party like a canapé. Whether you're hosting a formal event or having friends over for good food and company, canapés will elevate the occasion. In just a small bite, a combination of unique flavors, contrasting textures, and dazzling colors can enhance a basic preparation into a party-worthy appetizer. 

Recipe developer Howie Southworth brings us this canapé twist on the Swedish toast Skagen. Southworth shares, "One beautiful aspect of toast Skagen is its native simplicity," explaining that the original recipe was invented by a Swedish chef, "who was on a racing boat, bracing for an inevitable loss, and aiming to raise the spirits of the tired crew." The preparation consisted of ingredients that were on hand — it was even named after the nearby port. 

"Yet, what began as a humble, morale-boosting galley improvisation became one of Sweden's most cherished and customizable snacks," Southworth notes. His version takes it up a notch "by making fresh aioli, roasting shrimp to perfection, jazzing up the herb game, offering a hint of crunch with a shallot, and getting zesty with a lemon." There are plenty of regional variations when it comes to chilled salads, and regarding this one, our recipe developer shares, "I truly appreciate the evocative and briny combination of shellfish and dill that transport me to a Nordic shoreline."

For this recipe, you'll need to remove the tails from peeled, deveined shrimp and dice them up. Keep kosher salt, ground black pepper, and baking soda handy. Next, you'll need a lemon (for both the juice and zest), fresh dill (roughly chopped), chives (thinly sliced), and a small shallot (minced). For the aioli, you'll need vegetable or canola oil, a large egg, and garlic cloves. 

To assemble your dazzling canapés, slice half a baguette, melt some unsalted butter, and pick up brightly-colored fish roe from your fishmonger. Southworth notes that "though the recipe could be accomplished in a delicious manner using any fish eggs for that briny tinge, the end dish benefits from the splash of day-glow orange that flying fish, smelt, or salmon roe offer." Finally, if you like a bit of heat, you'll want to get your favorite hot sauce out.

Our choice for a baguette here is not the most traditional, but it helps serve this dish in a crowd-pleasing way. "Traditional toast Skagen is this wonderful shrimp salad atop typical buttered white bread, toasted or griddled with or without its crust," Southworth explains. "When I consider the purpose of the single bite, the proper vessel became important. If I was going to deliver a mélange of creamy, punchy seafood, it needed to be mounded atop a small bed with some heft. Baguette slices fit the bill."

Begin by combining the diced shrimp, salt, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside for half an hour to brine while you preheat your oven to 400 F. Next, set up a tall cylindrical container that fits the blades of an immersion blender. You may have one that comes with your appliance, or else Southworth recommends a "glass 2-cup liquid measure" or "a sturdy tumbler." 

Add the aioli ingredients to the container — oil, an egg, lemon juice, garlic cloves, and salt — and lower the immersion blender until the blades are flat at the bottom. Blend the contents on low, and slowly lift the blades straight up as a white gel starts to form on the bottom surface. Move the blades to follow the white sauce up the sides of the container, then stop blending once it appears evenly combined and set the aioli aside.

If you don't have an immersion blender, you can simply whisk the egg, lemon juice, garlic, and salt in a large mixing bowl and slowly drizzle in the oil as you keep whisking. The contents should transform into a consistent, white sauce. Southworth evenoffers an "alternative to aioli" if you're short of time. Just whisk together 3 tablespoons of jarred mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.

Once the shrimp has been brining for half an hour, transfer it to a lightly greased sheet pan. Distribute the shrimp in an even layer, then transfer the pan to the hot oven and roast them for 6 minutes. Don't turn off the oven just yet.

When the shrimp pieces are cooked, dump them into a large mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest, chopped dill, chives, shallot, pepper, and if desired, a splash of hot sauce. Pour in ¼ cup of the lemon aioli and fold all the ingredients together evenly. Adjust the consistency by adding a bit more aioli if required. As Southworth notes, "You're aiming for a shrimp salad." You'll have some leftover aioli; simply store it in a sealed container in the fridge for two to three days.

The shrimp salad can be prepared in the morning to maximize the flavor. "One brilliant characteristic of creamy, aioli-based salads is their unique ability to mature with time — and refrigeration," Southworth emphasizes. As he explains, "The aioli dressing is a liquid. The stars of the show are solids. Their membranes break down over time, thereby further flavoring the dressing", a phenomenon he describes as "decadent decay."

Place the baguette slices on a sheet pan and brush them with melted butter. Transfer the pan to the oven and toast the bread for 8 minutes, then place the golden slices on a serving platter. 

One by one, top the toasted bread with a dollop of shrimp salad and a garnish of fish roe.

"Toast Skagen canapés are a creamy, oceanic, and overall, pretty bright appetizer," Southworth says. As such, he notes that "the natural accompanying beverage (and what average oenophiles might suggest) is a dryer white wine, like pinot gris or sauvignon blanc. Something effervescent may also appeal, since the canapés are ideally passed about in a celebratory fashion." Another option he proposes is a cocktail: "With seafood, I would normally point to a citrus gimlet of gin or a vodka martini with a twist. However, when in Rome, er, Sweden, how could we dismiss the Swedish 60? That stroke of genius that is aquavit, lime juice, and champagne. Bottoms up."