Sometimes I invite people round for dinner and then forget they’re coming until 15 minutes before they arrive. Lucky for tins and pre-prepared dips.

This was thrown together in such a haste but turned out to be a favourite for the dinner guests. Remembering I luckily had some labneh and houmous ready; butter beans and olives were quickly drained & drizzled; salmon and oat cakes were placed neatly around on a plate and the labneh and houmous were placed into bowls and decorated with freshly ground pepper and paprika.

Something I need to remember for the future ~ if in doubt, make dips ~ they’re always a crowd pleaser and the more the variety, the more fun for the everyone involved.

Ramshackled together:

• Kefir labneh
• Tinned olives, drained and tossed with extra virgin olive oil, slices of garlic and thyme
• Tinned butter beans, drained and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, flakey sea salt and thin slices of lemon zest
• Homemade houmous ~ with chickpeas soaked, boiled and husked (recipe coming soon)
• Gluten free oat cakes
• Smoked salmon with wedges of lemon

+ toothpicks for everyone to eat with ~ makes for a fun meal and good for sneaking things off someone else’s plate :~)