Food News, with Patricia Hall

WE have come a long way since serving crisps and nuts with pre-dinner drinks.

Now traditional nibbles have become far more exciting, as budding party-throwers serve delicious little filo parcels, oriental dumplings, quails eggs and miniature meals such as baby bangers and mash or Yorkshire pud and roast beef.

Downing Street caterer Clare Latimer says you don't need a complicated mass of ingredients to ensure a bite-size treat. Keeping it simple is often the best solution.

"One of our most popular nibbles is baby cocktail sausages with mash as a dip. Make sure you put a lot of milk or olive oil in the mash so that it is not too stiff and flavour it with mustard or make it with sweet potato. What's also fashionable at the moment is the baby main course meal, such as tiny individual shepherd's pies or tiny Yorkshire puddings filled with roast beef."

If those seem too intricate, another of Latimer's most popular canapes is a simple one -- triangles of fried bread, topped with a spoonful of scrambled egg and a twirl of smoked salmon, served at room temperature.

Hard-boiled quails' eggs are another easy option, served on toast with a baby slice of ham or bacon.

One mistake people often make is to serve canapes on soft bread -- but this can often lead to a sloppy mess, Latimer warns.

"They should really be served on toast or fried bread, so that the guest can easily pick up the canape."