Liza's Cucumber & Tomato Tea Sandwiches with Pesto Cream Cheese

One of the traditional sandwiches that is served at tea parties is the cucumber and cream cheese.  I'm not a huge fan of cucumber, so I don't go out of my way to choose this particular sandwich, but will eat it if served to me.  At my favorite tea room, Belladonna's, in Lancaster, CA they serve the cucumber sandwich, but with a pesto cream cheese spread.  In my opinion, it is so much better than the original with plain cream cheese, that I decided I needed to try to replicate it.  That's how this open-faced tea sandwich was conceived.

I was hosting a tea in my home and thought this was the perfect time to attempt this savory treat.  My neighbor, Hazel, offered to help me with the food preparation, so I gave her the spreadable cream cheese and some store-bought pesto to combine for the spread.  She insisted on assembling the sandwiches, so I also gave her the bread and cucumber.  When she returned, she had a platter with the sandwiches I had envisioned, but had added a slice of tomato on top.  Needless to say, these new treats were the hit of the tea party!  I knew she had done more than just mix together the cream cheese and pesto, so I asked her what she'd done.  She said she thought the spread needed a little something more, so she added Parmesan cheese and a bit of garlic powder.  She also thought the sandwiches could use a little more color, so she added the tomato slices.  Alas, a new tea sandwich was born!  The next time, I insisted on making the spread myself, so I could take pictures for this blog, plus exact measurements to share here.

In a small bowl, I place the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, prepared pesto, and garlic powder.

Using a spoon, I mixed the ingredients together until completely combined.

Hazel came to help me just prior to this tea party, so I don't have individual pictures of each step.  I did, however, ask her to show the sandwiches in order of assembly on the front of the cutting board, so you can see how easy it is.  I like to use potato bread, so I can say this is a vegetarian sandwich!  After cutting the bread into circles using a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cucumber (I slipped the cucumber through the cookie cutter before peeling it to make sure it was the size I wanted).  On top of that, approximately 1 teaspoon of the pesto cream cheese spread gets added.  Then, after peeling and slicing the cucumber, a slice gets added.  This is followed by a slice of cherry tomato.  I try to use the center slices of the tomatoes, so they are a nice size.  I either discard the ends, or use them in something else.

That's all there is to it!  This has got to be the most simple tea sandwich I make, and yet it is now one of my favorites by flavor alone!  I have used the pesto cream cheese on foccacia bread before assembling a large sandwich for my guys and they loved it too!  I think it would be great if tossed in some hot pasta (I think I'll try that next time!).

Liza's Cucumber & Tomato Tea Sandwiches

with Pesto Cream Cheese

4 oz. spreadable cream cheese (from an 8 oz. container)

3 tablespoons prepared pesto

2 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Potato bread

1 cucumber

Cherry tomatoes

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, pesto and garlic powder.  Using a cookie cutter, cut bread slightly larger than the diameter of the cucumber.  Spread each piece of bread with pesto cream cheese. After peeling and slicing* the cucumber, add one slice to each sandwich.  After washing and slicing* the tomatoes, add one slice to the top of each sandwich.

*Once I have the bread cut, I know how many slices of cucumber and tomato I need.  Any remainder can be saved for another purpose.

Roasted Tomato Bisque

I had my Royal Ladies' Tea Society Christmas Tea in my home a few days ago and tried this new recipe out on my friends.  This soup was a big hit with all of the ladies and I'm sure it will be with you also!  I also made it again in January for my family, with whom it was a great hit also!

I love to visit my favorite tea room, Belladonna (Lancaster, CA), in December because Donna serves her amazing Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta soup.  It's the most amazing tomato soup I've ever had!  When I found this recipe in my November/December 2011 issue of Tea Time Magazine, I was hoping to find  a soup that came in a close second!  I think this recipe meets that goal!

After lining a baking sheet that has sides with aluminum foil, in a large bowl, I combined the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

After washing and cutting the tomatoes in half, I added them to the bowl, tossing them to coat with the oil and seasonings.

After slicing the onions I added them to the bowl, tossing them until fully coated.  It doesn't matter how thick you make your slices as all of the vegetables will be pureed after roasting, but you don't want to cut them too thin as they will overcook during the roasting process.  

  

I then transferred the vegetables to the baking sheet.  I put the tomatoes cut side down, figuring after the first half hour when the recipe says to stir the vegetables, I would use tongs to turn them over and it would be easy to make sure they had all been turned.

Into the oven the pan went for 1/2 hour at 450°F.  After that time, I turned all the vegetables and put them back in the oven for another 1/2 hour.  The picture above shows what they looked like after the full hour of roasting.

I let them cool for just over 10 minutes before placing 1/2 of the vegetables in my food processor to puree them.  When making this soup for the tea, I then transferred the puree to a Tupperware bowl and then into the refrigerator, as I did the roasting one day and reheated it the following day, adding the rest of the ingredients.  When I made this again for my family, I transferred the pureed vegetables to a Dutch oven, so the rest of the ingredients could be added right away.

Because the vegetables were still hot while processing them, I left the small food chute open to let the steam escape.  After processing the rest of the vegetables, I added them to the first half.

To finish the soup, after placing the pureed vegetables in my Dutch oven, I added the tomato paste, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce.  I used a whisk to combine these ingredients and brought them to a simmer over medium heat.

Once combined, the soup was quite thick at that point.

Next I gradually added the chicken stock.  You can see that the soup was much thinner.  I let this simmer for 10 minutes.

Then I added the Parmesan cheese, stirring to combine.  The cheese started to melt right away.

Next I added the heavy cream.  The picture doesn't show it well because it sank into the soup as I poured it.  What you see are the last drops from the measuring cup.  

The last ingredient to be added was the fresh basil.  The bisque was ready to serve!

This soup was the first course at our tea and I'm sure the ladies would have asked for more if they hadn't known there were so many other yummy foods to follow.  Almost everyone asked for the recipe, though!  I forgot to add a small basil leaf to the top to make it look as special at it tasted, but did so when I made it for my family in January, as you can see from the picture above.  This recipe yields 2 quarts of soup, so even after serving small portions to the ladies (tea foods are always served in small portions) I had some to share with neighbors (who loved it and asked for the recipe) as well as have my oldest son try a cup.  After the first taste, he was singing praises.  He immediately made himself a grilled cheese sandwich to accompany the soup, which became his dinner that evening.  He also asked if I could make it again so he could take it to work every day for lunch!  Yes, it's that good!  Enjoy!

Roasted Tomato Bisque

2 ½ pounds Roma tomatoes, halved

1 large yellow onion, sliced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

1 quart chicken broth

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 450°F.  Line a baking sheet with sides or roasting pan with aluminum foil.   Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper, tossing gently to coat vegetables.  Place in prepared pan.  Roast for 1 hour, stirring halfway through cooking time.  Remove from oven, and cool for 10 minutes.  In the container of a blender or food processor, puree vegetables until smooth.  In a Dutch oven, combine vegetable puree, chicken broth, tomato paste, sugar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining ½ teaspoon pepper, whisking until smooth.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Add cheese, cream and basil, stirring until cheese is melted.  Garnish individual servings with basil leaves, if desired.

Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

More often than not, I use my crock pot when I won't be home to eat dinner with my family, or we're eating at different times.  When I made this meal recently, I was not going to be home.  The majority of the dish is placed in the crock pot hours before serving, the only thing my guys had to do was add the tortellini about 15 minutes before serving and then top each dish with the mozzarella cheese I had already shredded for them.  I also requested they take pictures of the last few steps for this blog.  Jimmy handled these tasks for me and did a fine job; thank you, Jimmy!

I found this recipe in one of those magazines that are sold near the checkout stand at the market many years ago.  The recipe says it yields 4 to 6 servings, but my guys ate every last drop with no leftovers and there are only 3 of them!  This time, this dish got one 7, one 8 and one 9 on the Melnarik rating scale.  The person (who shall remain nameless!) who gave the 7 said it was a little heavy on the tomato taste for him.  I didn't tell him I used a different brand of marinara sauce this time.  Perhaps that lowered his rating from the 8 it used to be.

I begin by putting the Italian sausage in a large saucepan and cook it over medium heat until browned.  As it cooks, I keep turning the mean and breaking it up with my spoon.

Once the sausage is fully cooked, I drain off any fat and place it in my pre-heated crock pot.  Hint:  Hot foods should always be placed in a pre-heated crock pot and cold foods in a cool crock pot to heat together.

To the sausage, I add the marinara sauce, fresh mushrooms, and canned tomatoes.

Those ingredients get stirred together to combine.  The crock pot gets covered and the dish is cooked on low for 7 to 8 hours.  Hint:  For most recipes, if you need to lessen the amount of time for cooking, placing your crock pot on the high heat setting will cut the cooking time in half.  For example, a dish cooked on low for 8 hours can be cooked on high for 4 hours.  In this case, by the time everything was in the crock pot, there was only 5 hours before dinner time, so I cooked it on high for 2 hours (which equalled 4 hours on low) followed by 3 hours on low, which gave me the same result as 7 hours on the low setting.

This is how it looks after the full cooking time.  

About 15 minutes before serving, the refrigerated tortellini is added.

The tortellini gets stirred into the sauce, the lid is placed back on the crock pot, and it is cooked for an additional 15 minutes.  This is the perfect amount of time to throw together a quick salad and/or garlic bread!

I find this dish is best served in a bowl, and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese .  As you can see from the picture above, my guys really like cheese!  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

1 pound bulk Italian sausage

1 container (15 oz.) refrigerated marinara sauce

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained

1 package (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

Cook sausage in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain.  Add sausage to pre-heated 4- to 5-quart crock pot.   Add marinara sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes; stir to combine.  Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.  Stir in tortellini; cover and cook on low heat setting about 15 minutes longer or until tortellini is tender.  Top each serving with mozzarella cheese.