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In my first week of marriage my husband and I went to high tea and enjoyed some of the finer things in life. Beautiful china was laid out, tasty little sandwiches and spreads were displayed for the choosing, and of course we drank the best quality tea I've ever had.
To be honest with you, I didn't even know hot tea existed until I was in my last year of high school. I can't believe I just admitted that to you! Growing up in a small town in Texas with a very southern family, the only kind of tea that was ever on our table was iced sweet tea. And even though I truly prefer that, this is nice too!
To celebrate our Heavenly Mother and Queen, I think that it is most fitting to host a tea. This tradition works for anyone of any age, children, teens, adults, a gathering of women, a date with your boyfriend or husband, or even as a parish group. I had one wonderful woman message me and let me know that she saw this idea on the blog and decided to implement it with her faith formation families. My heart burst with joy! This is what I want to get people back to regarding living liturgically: liturgy, parish life, home life, and celebration.
If you would like to know more about the liturgical history and theology behind this feast day, click here to read my previous Queenship of Mary blog post.
To begin we need to collect all of our ingredients.
Yields: 24 Rectangular Sandwiches
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Sandwich Ingredients
1 Cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 Loaf of Extra Thin Sliced Bread, crust removed
Lemon Herb Aioli
Cucumbers and Flowers for garnish
Lemon Herb Aioli Ingredients
1 Garlic Clove, chopped coarsely
1 C. Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Dill Weed
1 Tbsp Parsley
1 Tbsp Chives
1 Tbsp Thyme
2 Tbsps Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Lemon Zest
Take out your mini food processor and pour in 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 clove garlic coarsely chopped.
Pulse the food processor until the garlic and mayonnaise are smoothly combined. After you've done that, sprinkle in 1 tbsp thyme, 1 tbsp parsley, 1 tbsp dill weed, and 1 tbsp chives.
Pulse the food processor again until all the herbs are combined and coarsely chopped. Now squeeze 2 tbsps of fresh lemon juice and pour into the herb mixture.
Using the lemon you squeezed, zest 1 tsp and add it into the food processor. Pulse a few more times until all your ingredients are combined, then set in the fridge to chill while you prep the sandwiches.
Remove the crust from your bread and set aside so we can prepare the cucumber slices.
After you have peeled the cucumber, slice it as thinly as you can, about 1/8 inch thick. Lay the cucumber slices out on a paper towel and pat them dry.
Place your sandwich bread out on the counter, and grab your chilled lemon herb aioli from the fridge to spread it out on one side.
Layer two rows of three cucumber slices in each sandwich and spread more aioli on the other slice of bread.
Then cut the sandwich in half, in between the rows of cucumbers, to make small rectangles. Arrange on a platter as you like.
To garnish the plate, I decided to make cucumber flowers which is much easier than you might think. To watch a tutorial, you can visit my social media page, but here are the directions.
Cucumber Flower Directions
Place a small x in one slice of cucumber.
Stagger three to four cucumber slices and roll them up.
Place the cucumber roll in the center of the x
Add cucumber flower to your plate of sandwiches
I also wanted a touch of femininity and color so I placed tiny white flowers on each sandwich and in the center of my cucumber flowers.
