Sixties Cocktail Party Classic: Cheese and Pineapple Sticks. Gluten-free Appetisers

The Sixties was about youth. Couture and cuisine came not from designers and chefs but from the street. Food and fabrics were noisy and boisterous, juxtaposing clashing colours and big bold patterns. It seemed as if the 'Established Order' had turned a somersault and had landed upon its head. The Sixties was a decade of the Feast of Fools, following the dictates of the young and redolent of the Twenties and hence the return of the flapper dress and the cocktail. As has often been written of that previous period; 'the party was in full swing and everyone who had been invited had arrived.'

For this recipe I've taken a cider braised ham so it doesn't quite have the authenticity of the lurid pink of the 60's product but in keeping with the spirit of the age I've accompanied them with some long retro pink flamingo skewers!

Left Twiggy, the face of the 'Swinging Sixties' in  Biba, the epitome of the London fashion scene. Biba started out in mail order with just one pink 'Mod' gingham dress, similar to one worn by Brigitte Bardot, they received 4,000 orders on the first day. Biba was so successful it ended up in Kensington High Street in the former home of an earlier icon, beloved of Agatha Christie's, Miss Marple; Derry and Toms. Big Biba had a roof garden complete with pink flamingos!

Ingredients

For the Marinade:

1 teaspoon of whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Szechuan or black pepper (freshly ground)

Method

For the Marinade:

Mix all the ingredients together to form the marinade.

Ingredients 

For the Sticks: 

(makes 24 appetisers)

Cocktail Sticks
180g of Gruyère or similar hard waxy cheese
Mix and Match was a big 60's thing so as long as it's brightly coloured  a selection of the following:
Ham
Cherry Tomatoes
Cubes of Cucumber
Black Olives
Red Pepper
Cubes of Pineapple

Method

For the Sticks:

Cut the Gruyère into cubes and pour over the marinade. Make sure each cube is well coated and then cover. I marinated the cheese for around 2 hours and that gave me a great mustard taste but obviously you can experiment with a longer marinating period if you wish.

Thread a cube of marinated Gruyère onto each stick and then add the other ingredients in a fiendishly studied but seemingly haphazard way. Mix in some longer sticks, preferably with something colourful attached like my flamingos! Do not have too much symmetry.

For a real authentic 60's look, the sticks should be served by pressing them into a half grapefruit or water melon, in the manner of porcupine quills.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from my 100 Gluten-Free Organic Party Foods Challenge!

All the best,
Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2017 

'Twiggy in Biba' Thanks to Pinterest Board of feedly.com