Dainty Cheese Chive And Watercress Tea Sandwiches For Tea Time Recipes

CUCUMBER TEA SANDWICHES WITH CHIVE BUTTER

Steps:

• Blend softened butter with finely chopped chives and a pinch of salt. If using unsalted, check for flavor and add more if necessary.
• Peel or score the cucumber (see notes). Slice very thinly.
• Butter each slice of bread and lay cucumbers on 3 slices, slightly overlapping.
• Top with remaining slices of bread and trim crusts carefully. Cut into fingers or triangle.
• If desired, butter one edge of each sandwich and cover with finely chopped chives

DAINTY EGG AND CHIVE TEA SANDWICHES FOR TEA-TIME

Steps:

• Place the eggs in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and run the eggs under cold water until cool.
• Peel and then coarsely grate or crumble the eggs into a bowl. Mix with the salad cream, mayonnaise and chives and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut off the bread crusts with a serrated knife - put them to one side for home-made breadcrumbs.
• Butter the bread and divide the egg mixture between 4 bread slices. Top with the remaining bread. Stack 2 sandwiches together and cut into 3 fingers, then serve.
• Cook's tips: Pierce the rounded end of each egg with a pin before cooking to help stop the shell from cracking.
• Cooling the eggs under cold water stops them from cooking further and prevents a dark ring forming around the yolk.
• For easy peeling, peel the eggs under cold running water over a colander to collect all the bits of shell. The water stops the shell from sticking to your fingers and the egg.

HAM, WATERCRESS AND MUSTARDY CREAM CHEESE TEA SANDWICH

Steps:

• Mix together the cream cheese and the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Add extra mustard for a more fiery flavour; however, it's probably best to have a mild mustard flavour for afternoon tea.
• Spread the cream cheese mixture on the 8 slices of bread and place the ham on top of Divide the watercress into small sprigs and place on top.
• Finish with the remaining slices of bread, trim off the crusts and cut each into 3 fingers. Serve on a pretty plate with some extra sprigs of watercress.

VICTORIAN WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES FOR HIGH TEA AND PICNICS

Steps:

• Snip the stalks from the watercress and place the leafy ends on kitchen paper to absorb any water. Butter the bread generously, arrange the watercress over 4 slices and season. Top with the remaining bread, cut into triangles or fingers and serve.
• NB. (Don't discard the watercress stalks; they can be made into a soup. Soften a chopped onion in a pan with butter, add 250ml whole milk and bring to the boil. Add the stalks, cook for 1 minute then liquidise until smooth and foamy.).

EGG AND WATERCRESS TEA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Remove the crusts from the bread.
• Chop the eggs, and gently mix in a bowl with the chopped watercress and chives. Add just enough mayonnaise to moisten and bind the mixture the mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tabasco, and gently mix well.
• Spread half of the slices of bread with the egg and watercress mixture, and place the remaining slices of bread on top.
• Lightly spread the outside edge of each sandwich with mayonnaise and dip into the chopped parsley.
• Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles.
• To serve, arrange the sandwiches on a platter, and garnish with the remaining watercress.