Lovely High Tea, Amazing Shrimp Salad!

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I had the pleasure of preparing delicate tea sandwiches and pastry for a high tea recently.  This is Georgia in her beautiful dining room.  Her table was absolutely gorgeous as you can see.  All of her guests wore hats.  So fun!

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I’ve never been to high tea. I will either host one soon or go to the Drake in Chicago for high tea.  How fun!

Here were my offerings….

1)  Chipotle shrimp salad sandwiches on white bread.
2)  Traditional English cucumber and boursin cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread.
3)  Egg salad on mini whole wheat buns.
4)  Chicken salad with toasted walnuts and craisins on mini whole wheat buns.

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I realized after the fact that all of the pictures I took were of the dessert & sweet bread offerings.  Although I didn’t get pic’s of my sandwich offerings, I was happy that I thought to bring my camera!  Pictured above are my mini cheesecakes with chocolate gnache and fresh strawberries.

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Here you see my cream scones and blueberry streusel bread.  (made with blueberries I picked in Michigan last summer!) I also made a strawberry butter to serve with the delicate scones.

I was wracking by brain trying to think of something different to do with the shrimp salad as all of these salads are mayonnaise based and tend to have the same taste.  As always, I cut the mayo with plain greek yogurt.  Love the light less “mayonnaisey” taste.  I decided to make a chipotle shrimp salad.  I did not use much of the chipotle.  It was amazing!

Shrimp Salad with Chipotle

1 lb. shrimp, cooked and completely cooled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 medium shallot, minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup non fat greek yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon pureed chipotle (small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed in food processor
2 pinches salt
1 pinch pepper

1)  Prepare the shrimp.  Bring enough water to cover the shrimp to a boil, lower heat to medium and add the peeled and deveined shrimp.  Cover with lid and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Take a peek.  If they’re pink, they’re done.  Do not over cook as they will become rubbery.  Drain and allow to cool completely in the refrigerator.  Chop finely and keep refrigerated.
2)  In a  medium size mixing bowl add the rest of the ingredients and whisk to blend completely.  Taste.  If you’d like a bit more heat, add more chipotle.  Add the finely chopped shrimp.  Mix gently until all is combined.
3)  To assemble tea sandwiches, spread a very small amount of mayonnaise over the bread slices.  With a spoon, add enough salad to go almost to the crusts.  You’d want about 1/4″ of salad on the sandwich.  With a serrated knife, carefully remove the crusts.  Then cut on the diagonal into halves, then again, very carefully into quarters.  You need a very delicate touch to do this.  Refrigerate.
4)  Also incredibly delicious on a soft roll with lettuce or arugula or on a bed of mixed greens.  Makes about 2 1/2 cups of shrimp salad.

Delicious!

 Angie

Happily Busy!

Good morning All-

Well, I’ve been very busy.  I’m not talking about my kids being out of school, although this does tend to complicate sometimes.  I’m enjoying the lack of schedule so far!  No lunches.  No homework. So nice.

I am so excited at the possibilities to grow my business.    I prepare and deliver healthy, delicious and kid friendly meals to local families.  With all of the processed and convenience foods out there, it feels good to share what I do with other families.

My menus are creative and give many a taste of ethnic foods they’ve not tried.  An interesting observation?  When someone else is doing the cooking, not Mom, kids tend to be more experimental with what they eat.  I’ve found this to be absolutely true with my own boys!  Often times my clients will tell me that their kids ate everything in front of them.  Such a great feeling!

This has been a much needed and welcomed challenge at this point in my life.  I’m loving every minute of it!

Have a great day!

Angie