Vegan Afternoon Tea Part I: My favourite sandwiche recipes

I like to treat friends & family to an afternoon tea on special occasions, and these are some of my favourite sandwich recipes.

No afternoon tea is complete without the Perfect Cucumber Sandwiches!

What you need (for 9 finger sandwiches or 12 triangles)

1/2 cucumber, peeled
Salt
6 thin slices of good white bread (such as pain de mie)
Unsalted margarine, at room temperature
White pepper

Cut the cucumber with a mandoline into very thin slices. Put them in a colander or sieve, sprinkle lightly with salt and leave for 20 minutes. Taste to check you haven't oversalted them: you can rinse them at this point if so.

Lay out a few pieces of kitchen paper on the work surface, place the cucumber slices on them, and pat dry with more paper.

Thinly butter each slice of bread. Arrange the cucumber on half the slices, overlapping each round, and sprinkle with ground white pepper. Top with the remaining slices.

Remove the crust and cut 3 fingers or 4 triangles each. 

Tasty alternative: instead of margarine, I like to use Oatly cucumber & garlic dairy-free spread. These are my mom's favourite :-)

Original recipe

Carrot & Raisin Sandwiches

I had these at a tea house once and liked them so much that I wanted to make them too :-)

What you need (for 6-9 finger sandwiches or 8-12 triangles)
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped mint
4-6 slices white sandwich bread (such as pain de mie)
3 tbsp hummus

Mix the carrot with the raisins, olive oil and vinegar. Season and add the mint.
Spread hummus on 2-3 slices of bread, top with the carrot mix and remaining 2-3 slices. Remove crust and cut into 3 finger sandwiches or 4 triangles each.

Original recipe

Roasted Red Pepper & Pesto Sandwiches

My friend's favourite!

What you need (6-9 fingersandwiches or 8-12 triangles)
4-6 slices sandwich bread (such as pain de mie)
Dairy-free margarine
3 tbsp dairy-free pesto
1-2 roasted red peppers from a jar, dained and sliced in strips
Pinch of salt & pepper

Spread half the sandwich slices thinly with the pesto and the other slices with margarine. Arrange the pepper strips onto the pesto and top with the buttered bread slices. Remove crusts and cut each sandwich into 3 fingers or diagonally into 4 triangles.

Original recipe