Garden Party: Elegant nasturtium and cucumber tea sandwiches

by Stefania Butler, Posted Apr 13th 2006 @ 5:32PM

Brenda Hyde posts lovely recipes for tea sandwiches at Seeds of Knowledge. Tea sandwiches are one of my long-standing obsessions. When I was in elementary school, I used to make tea sandwich filling recipes out of the Joy of Cooking until I had worked my way through them all.

I began making nasturtium sandwiches when we moved to a flat in San Francisco with a nasturtium-covered back fence. When they were in bloom, nasturtium leaves and flowers made their way into my green and fruit salads, sandwiches, and, of course, garnished my platters.

For a twist-on-the-usual sandwich, why not try this simple recipe at your next garden party?

Cucumber and Nasturtium Sandwiches (Stefania's variation of Brenda Hyde's recipe)

Ingredients:
2 medium sized English or Persian cucumbers
8 thin slices brown or white bread
4 nasturtium leaves
a handful of roughly chopped nasturtium petals
mayonnaise
onion juice

Peel, half, seed and finely chop the cucumbers. Place in a bowl and add a dash or two of the onion juice and enough mayonnaise to make it spreadable. Butter the slices of bread, and for each sandwich spread on enough cucumber mixture and petals to cover lightly. Lay a leaf on top of each piece of bread and top with another one. Trim the crust. Makes 4 sandwiches. Note-you could substitute any nice lettuce (like mache) or watercress for the nasturtium. Also when you place these on a platter or each plate be sure to garnish with a nasturtium bloom!

Filed Under: Farming, Raves & Reviews, Garden Party
Tags: america, appetizers, edible flower recipes, garden parties, garden party, hors doeuvres, lunch, nasturtium tea sandwiches, NasturtiumTeaSandwiches, tea party, tea sandwich recipes