Friday, March 31, 2023

Tea Leaf Reading - Afternoon Tea

The Introduction to Tea Leaf Reading program recently held in the tea room also included Afternoon Tea. In keeping with the tea leaf theme, several menu items were prepared using tea leaves, by infusion, or with ground leaves.
The specialty menu began with a leafy green salad with fresh raspberries, English cucumbers, topped with Feta cheese and dressed with Raspberry Zinger vinaigrette, a recipe from Celestial Seasonings book Cooking with Tea. The vinaigrette is created by steeping the raspberry zinger teabags for 20 minutes in vinegar before adding oil and sugar to create the vinaigrette. The tea imparts a subtle raspberry flavor and pretty pinkish tint to the dressing.

The sandwich selection featured a warm Blue Cheese and Asparagus rollup, a Cucumber sandwich with herbed cream cheese, Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Rounds, Chicken Salad Triangle and a Carrot Cake Tea Sandwich on raisin bread.
A reader requested the Carrot Cake Tea Sandwich recipe which can be found on the TeaTime Magazine website here.
There was an English Cream Scone, and a Candied Ginger and Green Tea Bread filled with mascarpone cheese. A medley of green fruits rounded out the plate. For the Candied Ginger and Green Tea Bread I used Harney & Sons Citron Green Tea, finely ground. The recipe is from Eat Tea by John Harney and Joanna Pruess.  Follow this link (to Hudson Valley magazine) for the recipe for the tea bread.

The dessert medley included a white cake topped with lemon curd, heavy cream, and a sprinkling of coconut. The other miniature cupcake was a delicately spiced Chai cupcake, and the teapot shortbread was flavored with matcha, powdered green tea. From eating the leaf to tea leaf reading, it was a day filled to the brim with tea.

 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This was a fantastic time! Thank you for having me as a presenter. Your group was wonderful and I had a blast with everyone. Rissa

Marilyn Miller said...

Now this sounds like just the right sort of tea time. All the food sounds delicious. I would love sitting in on a leaf reading too.

Marilyn Miller said...

On visiting here again I am wondering what is the carrot cake sandwich. I see raisin bread, but curious about the inside?