Egg And Cress Tea Sandwiches

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Egg And Cress Tea Sandwiches

Link to my newest and old recipes, click:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

Creamy, wholesome and peppery fresh.  That's how I would describe this sandwich. I know of a few people who can eat a sizeable amount of these sandwiches whenever I make them.

EGG AND CRESS TEA SANDWICHES                               

Prep:	25 minutes
Cook:	5 minutes
Inactive:	5 + 20 minutes
Level:	Easy
Makes:	8 finger sandwiches
Oven Temperature:	-
Can recipe be doubled?	Yes
Make ahead?	Yes, a day ahead, well covered in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoons diced onions

Dice them as tiny as you can manage. (Omit this if you must but it does give the sandwich an extra crunch and flavour.)

4 boiled eggs

1/2 cup lightly packed watercress/cress (the more tender leaves are found at the top ends) OR 1/2 cup of radish sprouts (use top 1"[2.5 cm] and snip into two 1/2" [1.25 cm] pieces) plus extra for those who like more of it

'Lightly packed' means you do not press down on the leaves as you pile it into the measuring cup. 

I have trouble getting hold of watercress/cress. I prefer to use radish sprouts. In my supermarket it comes in a conveniently sized (4 oz) 100 g punnet. I just snip off the top 1" into 2 and I am done. I save the bottom stems for salads. It has an almost similar peppery taste to watercress so I'd quite happily substitute that for watercress/cress.

Find out what to do with leftover radish sprouts at the bottom of this post under 'Tips'.

1 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoons light sour cream

When I use all mayonnaise to bind the ingredients, the sandwich becomes cloyingly heavy for my taste. I found that using half light sour cream and half mayonnaise lightens up the sandwich. What to do with the remaining tub of sour cream though? Read under 'Tips'. 

8 slices of sandwich bread

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt 

Butter for buttering

Directions

Sprinkle a good pinch of salt and fine grain sugar over diced onions. This helps the onions to lose some of its sharpness and flavours it at the same time. They will start to weep. Set aside for 5 minutes. Transfer onto kitchen paper towels. Gently pat and press on them until dry. Set aside.

Chop up the eggs into small dice or use an egg slicer to slice it length and breadth wise. I do not mash it up as it will get mushier once you start incorporating all the other ingredients. Set aside.

With a spoon, mix light sour cream, mayonnaise, pepper and salt. Gently mix in chopped eggs. Fold in onions and watercress/cress/radish sprouts. Set aside.

Lay out the 8 slices of bread and butter them thinly but well covered.

Distribute the egg mixture on 4 slices of buttered bread. If you like more greens like I do, this is the time to strewn some over the egg mixture. Cover with the remaining 4 slices of bread.

For easier slicing, cover sandwiches well in an airtight container and refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator, trim crusts and slice into 2 finger sandwiches. You will have 8 finger sandwiches.

Serve on a pretty tray.

Tips

What to do with the leftover greens?

• Use in a salad

• Use in pesto

This will require a separate post to properly run through a pesto recipe.  For those of you who are deft in the kitchen, you already know what to do, so just work with a ratio that you are happy with. It does make a nice change to ordinary pesto. I use just the leaves.

• Use in an omelette

It was a delicious dinner.

Recipe for 1 person: 2 eggs beaten with 1 Tablespoon water, pepper and salt to taste. 1/2 cup of leftover greens, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese, 1 Tablespoon butter. Warm up butter in a pan, add eggs, on medium-high heat cook until almost set without breaking up the omelette. Add greens and cheese towards the end just to heat through. Fold omelette in half, make sure egg is cooked and remove from pan. Sprinkle with pepper and serve. I like this with garlic rubbed crusty bread and a side of tomatoes drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

What to do with leftover light sour cream and radish sprouts?

• Make a Smoked Salmon Pasta with a Radish Sprouts, Light Sour Cream Sauce

That was my dinner. A very pale green plate of light
tasting, refreshingly tangy and peppery pasta.

Recipe for 2 persons: Sauce: 1/4 parmigiano reggiano, 3/4 cup light sour cream, 1/2 cup radish sprouts, 1 small garlic clove, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cooked pasta for 2 persons. 1 cup of pasta water (water you used to cook pasta in). Smoked salmon slices. Salmon caviar or the Japanese version, ikura.

Blend all sauce ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a pan and simmer for 8 minutes. Stir while you are at it so it does not burn.  Turn off heat. Have the 1 cup pasta water near you. Transfer cooked pasta into pan of sauce and toss to coat. If you think the sauce is too thick, loosen it up with pasta water. Divide pasta into 2 plates. Strewn over smoked salmon, a few more radish sprouts and I like to top mine with ikura instead of bottled salmon caviar. I like that it is less salty, delicate in flavour and a little sweet. The taste of the peppery and tangy radish sprouts as a sauce on pasta with the savoury salty smoked salmon and sweet ikura is wonderful.

Stuck with more light sour cream?

Please read the post under, Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches for more ideas.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                                                  

English Afternoon Tea beckons.

Top plate: Classic Victoria Sponge Cake, Checkerboard Cookies,
Sweet Milk Scones.
Bottom plate first layer: Egg and Cress, Roast Beef with Beetroot, Crisp Cucumbers.

Bottom plate second layer: Roast Beef with Beetroot,

Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter, Ham with Honey Butter.

Only 3 more recipes to go before you can go off to make the entire English Afternoon Tea spread pictured above!

Here's what I have posted:

Recently posted:

Sweet Milk Scones

Checkerboard Cookies

Roast Beef with Beetroot Tea Sandwiches

Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches

Current post:

Egg and Cress Tea Sandwiches

Soon to be posted:

Ham with Honey Butter Tea Sandwiches

Crisp Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Classic Victoria Cake

There will be another reason to invite people over to your home soon. Impress them with an English Afternoon Tea spread.  You can always replace items that you fancy more than those I prepared on the 2-tier cake stand. For instance, buying macaroons will pretty up your serving plate and you have one less item to prepare.

I should be posting the recipe for Ham and Honey Butter Tea Sandwiches next. Check again soon for that!

Smoked Salmon With Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches

Hi! I'm now working from Wordpress. I've spent a great deal of time editing and reorganising this post on Wordpress and it is so much friendlier to read & follow my recipe from there. Click on this link to take you directly to the recipe:

Smoked Salmon With Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches

Link to my newest and old recipes, click:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

When you use the best quality smoked salmon you have access to, this popular tea sandwich becomes truly wonderful. Very simple to prepare using minimal ingredients, it is a favourite in our home.

SMOKED SALMON WITH DILL BUTTER SANDWICHES  

Prep:	20 minutes
Cook:	-
Inactive:	15 minutes + 20 minutes
Level:	Easy
Makes:	8 finger sandwiches
Oven Temperature:	-
Can recipe be doubled?	Yes
Make ahead?	Yes, a day ahead, well covered in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons finely diced onions.

Dice them as tiny as you can manage.

1 Tablespoon fresh dill. After cutting them really fine, you should have a 1/2 Tablespoon.

Use 1/4 teaspoon dried dill if you have no access to fresh dill.

3/4 Tablespoon light sour cream

This lightens up the butter dill spread. However, if you do not want to buy a tub of light sour cream just for this, skip the light sour cream. Look under my 'Tips' section, below,  for ideas to finish the tub of sour cream.

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Left out on your kitchen counter to soften. I use unsalted butter as smoked salmon is salty.

150 g smoked salmon

Buy the best quality smoked salmon you have access to. They are usually less salty, more moist and delicate in flavour. I would stay away from cheaper priced ones. Then again, expensive does not necessary mean good. You need to buy a few brands and decide yourself. Compare sodium and sugar levels if that information is available on the package. Personally, I like Scottish Oak Smoked Salmon. There are only a few ingredients in this sandwich and you can pretty much taste the quality of the salmon you put in the sandwich. 

8 slices of white sandwich bread

Directions

Soak the diced onions for 15 minutes in an ice water bath to crisp up and to get rid of some of its sharpness. Drain into a sieve, run it under running water and rinse gently. Drain as much as you can and transfer onto kitchen paper towels. Gently pat and press on them until dry. Set aside.

With a spoon, incorporate the light sour cream with the butter. Fold in the dill and onions. Be gentle. Do not press on the onions. They will start to weep into the butter and lose its juicy crispness. You have made Dill Butter. Set aside.

Minimal ingredients needed to make Dill Butter

Lay out the 8 slices of bread. Use up all the Dill Butter to butter all 8 slices of bread.

Use up all the smoked salmon by layering them on 4 slices of buttered bread. Cover with the remaining 4 slices of bread.

You need to firm up the Dill Butter spread in the sandwiches for easier slicing, by covering and refrigerating them for 20 minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator, trim crusts off and slice each sandwich into 2 finger sandwiches. You will have 8 finger sandwiches. I ate 2 before I knew it.

A literal bed of Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Sandwiches

These sandwiches are best served as part of an English Afternoon Tea spread comprising a variety of finger sandwiches and my two must haves, the Classic Victoria Sponge Cake and Sweet Milk Scones.  The Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter sandwiches are of course good as a stand alone with just a cup of tea.

Take a look at the English Afternoon Tea spread I prepared. Every item there does deserve its spot on those plates. They are delicious and so visually appealing!

English Afternoon Tea. Don't restrict serving this spread to tea time. 
Any time is a great time!

Top plate: Classic Victoria Sponge Cake, Checkerboard Cookies,
Sweet Milk Scones.
Bottom plate first layer: Egg and Cress, Roast Beef with Beetroot, Crisp Cucumbers.

Bottom plate second layer: Roast Beef with Beetroot, Salmon

with Dill Butter, Ham with Honey Butter.

Tips

What to do with leftover sour cream? 

• Bake bread

The bread will bake out soft and moist. Use my recipe under Hamburger Buns, Savoury Buns, substituting milk with sour cream.

• Top sour cream on baked potatoes (Makes 2 potatoes)

4 Tablespoons sour cream, 2 Idaho Russet Potatoes, 1 Tablespoon chopped spring onions or dill, pepper and salt to taste. Bake washed potatoes with skins still on directly on oven rack in a 175C oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer can be easily inserted through the potatoes. Remove and make a slit on top of each potato. With oven gloves, squeeze each potato inwards so that potatoes pucker and open up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Dollop 2 Tablespoons of sour cream on each potato and sprinkle a little more salt and pepper to taste. Finish off with chopped spring onions or dill. 

• Serve as a sauce over cooked salmon (Serves 2)

6 Tablespoons sour cream, 2 fillet of cooked salmon, 1/2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh dill, 1 Tablespoon diced onions, 1 garlic minced, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything and dollop over cooked salmon.

• Make some Roast Beef with Beetroot Tea Sandwiches

Click on the link to get the recipe for a real beefy and easy to eat tea sandwich.

• Make a Radish Sprouts Light Sour Cream Sauce for Smoked Salmon Pasta

Recipe is filed under the Egg and Cress Tea Sandwiches post. Look under 'Tips' section. It comes with a pretty picture of the said pasta. It is an especially useful recipe if you intend to make these Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter and the Egg and Cress Sandwiches at the same time. Click the link.

What to do with dill?

• Use the leftover dill as a bed to serve sandwiches.

• In salads or in salad dressings.

• Grow it! 

Dill makes an interesting flora arrangement.
Actually, it is just shoving the dill into a
vase, no arrangement required.

Put them in a vase of water. For a week, it can serve as a rather pretty flora arrangement. It will soon start bearing roots. Give it a few more days for the roots to develop further. Then transplant them directly into your garden soil or into flower pots. It needs sun and grows easily. Remember to change water in the vase every 2 days.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                               

I wish I could spit up posts faster than I can. There are only so many hours in a day and too much to do already. At the back of my head is the nagging countdown that has been going on with some urgency, "Four recipes posted, four more to go." So let's do a little recap.

I am posting a series on an English Afternoon Tea spread. It was propelled by my greed for Cornish Clotted Cream.  Read my previous post titled Devil Curry, Curry Debal, under the last section 'What's Coming Up Next' and my posts thereafter to understand what I am going on about.

What you see displayed on the 2-tier cake stand (pictured above) are the recipes you would expect to see me post.

Recently posted:

Sweet Milk Scones

Checkerboard Cookies

Roast Beef with Beetroot Tea Sandwiches

Current post:

Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches

Soon to be posted:

Egg and Cress Tea Sandwiches

Ham with Honey Butter Tea Sandwiches

Crisp Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Classic Victoria Cake

I have eggs and ham in the refrigerator. Then again, I have cucumbers. I might just post the recipes for all three tea sandwiches at the same time. Let me find time.

Sweet Milk Scones

Hi! I'm now working from Wordpress. I've edited this post, neaten it up and it is now more organised and easier to follow my recipe from there. This link will take your directly to the recipe: 
Sweet Milk Scones

Link to my newest and old recipes:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

These are featherweight scones with a light crumb. Nothing like those heavy hockey pucks one often encounters.

I was tired of being deceived by tall, lovely looking scones sitting on polished pedestals and under glass domes. Surely, someone must have taken a ruler and measured the height of every cut dough before it was allowed in the oven. 

With that even varnish of glossy egg wash, it was the ideal picture of a perfect scone. The problem was that was where the perfection ended. One bite and the scone felt sticky on the teeth and upon going down the throat it felt as if it could possibly get lodged in there.

Determined not to waste my calorie quota on those, I scoured through my cookbooks. I finally tested a recipe that was all that I wanted a scone to be. It baked out light, tasted light, did not stick to my teeth and it went beautifully down my throat. It did not matter that they were not tall. It was my perfect scone. The extra bonus? It reheated very well the next day. 

Who came up with the recipe? The editors of Cook's Illustrated. In their test kitchen, they had tested and analysed ingredients and recipes. Thereafter, they compiled the best of them into 'The Best Recipes'.

Try their scone recipe and you might never be tempted to buy another store bought scone again.

SWEET MILK SCONES                                                               
Recipe adapted from 'Cook's Illustrated, The Best Recipes'.

Prep:	20 minutes
Cook:	10 to 12 minutes
Inactive:	None
Level:	Moderately easy
Makes:	8 to 9, 2 and 1/2" (6.5 cm) scones
Oven Temperature:	450F (225C) Gas Mark 8
Can recipe be doubled?	Yes, but I will only double and not more. It would be difficult to incorporate all the ingredients without over working the dough.
Make ahead?	I would not make this ahead if I can help it. However, I have popped the cut scones on its tray, covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator up to half an hour before I was ready to bake. In fact, if your oven is not ready for the scones, do keep the unbaked scones in the refrigerator. You want them to be cold when they hit the oven. It does make a difference to achieving light scones. Any uneaten scones can be covered loosely with aluminium foil and reheated in the oven at 450F (225C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until warmed through.

Ingredients

2 cups (9 oz) (250 g) all-purpose/plain flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoons (2 oz) (60 g) unsalted butter
Cut into 1/2" pieces and well chilled.
3/4 cup (185 ml) milk
Keep chilled plus keep about 2 Tablespoons extra aside should you need it to help bring the dough together.

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450F (225C).

Mixing by hand

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. With fingertips, pastry cutter or 2 knives, work butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk. 

Using a pastry/bench scraper (a flexible silicon one works best for me) or a spatula, work quickly to incorporate the dry ingredients into the milk.

I use my silicon pastry scraper and flick the flour from the circumference over the pool of milk. Next, I dig my scraper deep into the bottom of the bowl and then lift and drop mixture over itself until dry and wet ingredients are just incorporated. Do not stir.

If the mixture looks too dry and it does not seem to be coming together, distribute 1 to 2 Tablespoons of milk now. 

It is better to work with a slightly more moist than a dry dough.  From my experience, a slightly sticky dough promises lighter scones. 

The mixture will feel slightly sticky. As far as you can manage, flour fingers and/or your pastry/bench scraper lightly instead of adding flour directly to the mixture.

The mixture will look scraggly and lumpy. Take a look at the second photograph below. 

Transfer the scraggly mixture onto your lightly floured work surface.

Use your pastry scraper to gently gather mixture into a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to handle, a dusting of flour will help move things along.

Mixing using  food processor

Into a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pour in all dry ingredients. Pulse twice to mix dry ingredients. Remove cover and distribute butter. Cover and pulse butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps. It should take just 4 or 5, 3-seconds pluses.

This is where I will remove the coarse meal mixture and work the milk in by hand as per the instructions above.  I have never been able to work the milk in successfully with the food processor. I end up with tough scones.  I am including Cook's Illustrated's instructions to work milk in with the food processor.  I wish you better luck.

Pour milk in through feed tube and pulse until dough starts to gather into a rough ball. Do not over process. 

Turn dough onto a floured work surface.

Mixture should looks somewhat
like this with a few slightly larger lumps of butter.

Scraggly looking mixture after milk has been worked in
and before it is shaped into a rough dough ball.

Rolled to 1/2" thickness. It is fine if the surface of dough looks cracked.
Being able to see the tiny knobs of butter is a good thing.

These cut out dough are looking the way they should.
Flakes of butter in them are still visible.
It will not bake out tall with smooth tops but it will taste very light.

Assembling

Have ready the following:

• Rolling pin
• Small knife
• 2 and 1/2" (6.5 cm) round cutter
• Small dish at least 3" (7.5 cm)in diameter with enough flour in it for you to dip your round cutter.
• 1/4 cup of flour
• Flour sifter or a sieve, to sift the 1/4 cup of flour as needed
• Lined and buttered baking sheet. I use a Silpat and do away with lining and buttering

Working quickly and with a light hand, roll dough into 1/2" (1.25 cm) thickness. Dust if necessary to avoid the rolling pin sticking. More often than not, to avoid overworking the dough, I end up not rolling but using the rolling pin to lightly 'tap' the dough level.

Dip round cutter in flour and with one swift movement cut through dough. Try not to jiggle the cutter. Remember, you are trying not to over work the dough. Lift cut dough out of rolled out dough with the round cutter. Drop cut dough onto baking sheet. Minimise handling the dough with your hands. The knife is there to help you cut or loosen dough.

Dip cutter into flour as often as required and continue to cut out round dough. Leave as little gaps as possible when cutting dough rounds.  Gather scraps gently together with the pastry scraper. You should have enough dough to cut one more 2 and 1/2" round.  Gather remaining scraps into a rough 2" (5 cm) ball, frame it with the round cutter. Press dough outwards to form another 2 and 1/2" round. Place this last piece of cut dough on the centre of baking sheet. Why? It is probably the smallest of all your punched out dough and will bake too quickly if placed along the perimeters of the baking sheet.

Bake straight away for 10 - 12 minutes. The tops should be golden brown and the bottoms very slightly browned. 

If you are not ready to bake, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Do not leave uncooked scones on your work surface.

Serve with good clotted cream, whipped double/thickened cream and strawberry jam. Sometimes I serve them with sliced or whole fresh strawberries as well.

Tips

• Chill all your dry ingredients either overnight or half an hour before you need it. Keeping everything chilled helps to prevent the butter from melting as you work it into the dough. It makes for lighter scones too.

• Work your dough as little as possible. The more you fiddle with it, the heavier your scones will turn out. You do not need a perfect looking dough ball.

• Please do not add an egg wash. It makes the scone smell and taste eggy. The scones are pretty as they are. Leave them alone. Besides, you will have leftover eggs which you would then have to decide what to do with.

• If you do not want to cut dough into rounds, you have the following 2 options:
  
  
  • Roll dough into a 1/2" (1.25 cm) thick flat round. Transfer onto baking sheet. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges. Do not separate the wedges. Bake as is. You can break them apart when they come out of the oven. You must adjust baking time though. They should be done in 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Roll dough into a 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick rectangle. Cut into 2" (5 cm) squares. Transfer onto baking sheet. Do not separate the squares. Bakes as is. You can break them apart when they come out of the oven. You must adjust baking time though. They should be done in 15 to 20 minutes.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?                                                
In my most recent post under Devil Curry, Curry Debal, I had carried on about my love for Cornish Clotted Cream with scones and how I had carted them home from London and had been eating spoonfuls of it. That spawned my idea of posting a spread of food to serve for English Afternoon Tea. 

At my own not too long ago English Afternoon Tea party, I had served:

• A classic Victoria Sponge Cake sandwich with buttercream icing and strawberry jam
• Egg and Cress Tea Sandwiches
• Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches
• Roast Beef with Beetroot Tea  Sandwiches
• Crisp Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
• Ham with Honey Butter Tea Sandwiches
• Checkerboard Cookies 
• and scones of course

We do not have a particularly sweet tooth (except for Checkerboard Cookies) and would much rather have more savoury items for our afternoon tea. You could always bake more sweet items or just buy macaroons which will look pretty on any plate.

It is so difficult to choose a favourite. 
Egg and Cress Tea Sandwich, the top left corner sandwich,
is creamy but made light with the fresh tasting bite of watercress.
I also like the Crisp Cucumber Tea Sandwich to the right.
It stays crisp through the next day. I like the
Checkerboard Cookies which require some effort, actually
a lot of effort but they are so good it is worth the effort.
Oh, I just like them all!

Which recipe should I post next? Hmm, the recipe for Checkerboard Cookies? Maybe Egg and Cress Tea Sandwiches? The Smoked Salmon with Dill Butter Tea Sandwiches are also delicious. It is so hard to decide. So, just stay tuned!