Smoked trout and apple appetizers

I tried this dish first as an appetizer, and then with plenty of remaining filling decided it would make a fine sandwich, open-face or otherwise.

Smoked Trout and Apple Crostini
Adapted from Real Food, Fall 2008 (the magazine you can pick up free at Lunds)

Ingredients

¼ cup chopped pecans, toasted
4 ounces smoked trout, skinned, boned and flaked
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1½ teaspoons horseradish

3 tablespoons Calvados (or applejack)
1 medium baguette, thinly sliced and toasted (or 1 Belgian endive, separated into leaves)
½ a red apple, cored and very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives



Method
Combine pecans, trout, cream cheese and horseradish in a bowl. Mix well and blend in Calvados. Spread mixture on crostini, or place about a round tablespoon's worth on each endive leaf. Wedge a few apple slices into the mixture on top of each one. Garnish with chives.

Rating: Tasty, repeatable. The smoky flavors pair well with the horseradish and Calvados. (And with the horseradish vodka we chose to drink with it.) I opted for the endive leaves as a base, and it worked fine, although it would probably be less fussy to make for a larger gathering using crostini and make them more secure finger food. The leftovers made a great sandwich the next day with more thinly sliced apples and some arugula in between slices of whole grain bread.

Note: The original recipe suggests it serves 6 to 8, which is probably a good guess, particularly if using crostini as the base. If you're using it for a sandwich filling, I'd guess it would fill 6 to 8 sandwiches depending on how thickly you like it spread.