Farewell parties, afternoon teas and the best devilled eggs I've made

It’s the 7th of January, and I’m on my way back to uni (I'm writing this on my flight), so before I left, I decided to invite some people home and do a bastardised Scottish high tea for them. This week’s post, much like last week, is not about a singular complex dish, but rather a series of simple elements which together formed a delicious and complete meal. On this week’s menu were some of my classics: Tea sandwiches, mini tarts and scones, and one new element, which I daresay stole the show: My take on devilled eggs. All of the recipes can be found below and some can be found on my other posts as well (please check them out…I need the views)

The devilled eggs were truly my favourite dish to make. A few days back, I ate at a new restaurant in Bangalore (It’s called Lyfe, and it is Abhijit Saha’s newest restaurant…) and I was very impressed by one of the dishes in particular: The potato and wasabi soup. Taking that as inspiration, I made potato and wasabi devilled eggs. Devilled eggs are bite sized dishes, so they need to contain all of the main elements in a dish within that one bite. So my take on these eggs was as follows: The yolks were mixed with garlic aioli, wasabi, and a few spices, along with a tiny bit of white wine vinegar. This gave them a nice, rounded flavour. On top of the yolks, I added crushed roasted walnuts, freshly chopped chives, and a freshly fried potato chip, which gave the dish a bit of elevation and added that final bit of crunch. These are actually kinda easy to make, and you’d be surprised just how elevated they look.


The tea sandwiches and quiches were relatively easy to make. The tea sandwiches couldn’t’ve been more simple: they were literally cucumber and cream cheese. There’s very little to do with these: A bit of pre-seasoning of thinly sliced cucumbers (I think a Mandolin gives the best slice) with some salt and pepper, and then some garlic aioli and cream cheese on two pieces of bread with a bit of the cucumber in between. It’s seriously super simple.

I had no hand in making the quiches, so I can't really say much about them...I'm including a couple of links below for (possibly) good recipes, but I really don't know.

I’ve already posted about the scones, and most of it is pretty simple, but here’s the gist. The scones were buttermilk (eggless) scones with chunks of freshly chopped dark chocolate, and I made a few dishes to go along with them. Lemon curd is pretty simple, it’s more or less a sweet, lemony hollandaise sauce which hardly takes 20 minutes to make. The cooler elements (in my opinion) were the strawberries and whipped cream. For the strawberries, I sliced whole (stemmed) strawberries into 1cm thick slices and put them in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice to marinate overnight. Then, in the morning, I poured in a good amount of balsamic vinegar, and let them marinate till the time they were served. As for the whipped cream, I whipped some heavy cream without adding anything else until it reached stiff peaks. Then, in a pot, I boiled sugar and water until they made a thick, clear liquid, and just as the sugar began to caramelise, I added my homemade vanilla extract and thickened it over the gas. Then, I poured the thick syrup into the chilled whipped cream while blending, which gave it a nice richness of flavour.

BY THE WAY...DON'T BE SHY, MAKE EXTRA LEMON CURD AND WHIPPED CREAM, THERE'S A WAY TO USE BOTH WHICH I'LL TELL YOU AT THE END. 

In all of these dishes, only two got polished off: The scones and the devilled eggs, the latter being polished off within 15 minutes. 

Anyway...all that said, here are your recipes!

Scones (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/buttermilk-scones)

This recipe generally makes about 20-25 scones depending on size...Note: I make smaller scones, so the number may vary. 

300g Self Raising Flour (282 grams of AP flour and 18 grams of baking powder, with a tiny bit of salt)

Pinch of salt

100g cold butter, cut into small cubes

85g golden castor sugar

284ml buttermilk

2tsp vanilla extract (Here I'd recommend storebought over homemade, but vanilla beans work best)

Splash of Milk

Dark chocolate chunks (Or milk chocolate but I'll judge you)

Cranberries (OPTIONAL)

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C
2. In a large bowl (make sure it's not too tall so you have space to knead) mix the flour, salt and butter until no visible bits of butter remain and it is well-incorporated. Alternatively, this can be done in a food processor as well, but this product will have to be transferred into a large bowl after processing.
3. Warm the buttermilk and vanilla gently in a pot. Once simmering, leave to cool for 1-2 minutes and then slowly mix into the flour mixture and knead. The flour mixture will form a semi-sticky dough which doesn't leave much residue on your hands. If needed, add a bit more milk until it reaches a good consistency. Then, mix in your chocolate, cranberries and any other additions into the dough.
4. At this point, tip onto a floured bench and flatten with your hands into a 4cm thick sheet (Yes...using your hands, because the little imperfections add more character than a perfectly rolled out scone) and then, using a cookie cutter, cut out little round cylindrical pieces about 6-7cm in diameter. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden and well-risen. Note: Make sure to pay attention as the chocolate tends to burn, so you do have to be somewhat precise with when you pull it out of the oven. 

Lemon Curd 

Remember...If you've never made a recipe before, the first time I recommend following it as closely as possible. Most of these recipes are tried and tested, and while I may work a little differently, if you're ever in doubt, just follow the steps or links provided.

3 whole eggs (Depending on how thick you want it...if you want it to be a less thick consistency, substitute 1 whole egg for 1 egg yolk)

125g castor sugar (I sometimes use golden castor sugar, but not this time)

1 small lemon zested

90ml lemon juice (Reduce the amount you use based on how sour the lemons are)

Pinch of salt

80g butter (I usually keep some browned butter on hand, although I didn't try it in this recipe)

Vanilla Extract (OPTIONAL: Homemade or storebought)

1. This recipe uses a double boiler, so make sure to find a medium-large bowl and a pot such that the bowl can fit cleanly on top of the pot without falling in while you work. Fill the pot with about 5cm of water and put it on the stove to boil. 
2. While the water heats up, in the bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, zest, lemon juice, salt and vanilla with a whisk. Whisk until the mixture is slightly lighter in colour
3. Once the water has boiled, place the bowl on top of the pot and begin whisking, making sure to whisk frequently to prevent the eggs from curdling. Keep whisking until the curd becomes thicker (about the consistency of a hollandaise sauce or fresh cream). Then, add in the butter and whisk a bit more before removing from the stove. 
4. Here, if there seem to be NO egg pieces in the curd, cool while whisking and chill in the fridge before serving. If there are pieces of egg, don't worry, it's easily fixed. Use a medium strainer to strain out the pieces of egg. The downside to this is that the zest will also get strained out, so at your own discretion you can add in a bit more fresh zest. 

Balsamic Strawberries and Vanilla Cream

Here, I definitely recommend using the homemade vanilla extract, the recipe for which I will leave below. Don't worry if the 365 days are not done, you can begin using the extract from the moment its colour turns a dark amber, just note that its intensity will be far less than that of a storebought extract for the first year or so.

For the cream

100ml Whipping Cream, chilled

30g sugar (adjust based on how sweet you like it)

40ml homemade vanilla extract OR 5ml storebought extract

1. In a chilled bowl, using a hand blender, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Then, place to chill for 25-30 mins in the freezer
2. In a saucepan, mix equal parts sugar and water (by volume) and bring to a bubble. When the liquid becomes thicker but before it turns brown, pour in vanilla and turn off the gas (if using homemade extract, leave on for a bit until it reaches a similar thickness)
3. With the hand blender on high, slowly pour in the sugar mixture until completely combined.

For the strawberries

20 medium-large strawberries sliced into 1cm thick slices

30-60g sugar (quantity depends on the grain size of the sugar and the size of the strawberries. I used close to 40g of granulated sugar for 20 medium sized strawberries)

1/2 lemon, juiced

30ml balsamic vinegar

1. In a bowl, mix the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and balsamic. Cover and leave in the fridge for 1-2 days

Tea Sandwiches

8 slices of bread

1 cucumber, medium-large

salt, pepper and assorted seasonings

cream cheese

1. Spread cream cheese liberally on one side of each slice of bread. 
2. Using a mandolin, slice the cucumbers thinly and in a bowl, season with salt, pepper and other seasonings
3. On the cream cheese side of each slice of bread, place 1-2 layers of cucumbers
4. Now make these slices into sandwiches...this better not need instruction
5. Cut off the crust from each sandwich and divide into 4 triangular quarters

Devilled Eggs

NOW you're in for a treat. This one was my best dish on that day. 

10 eggs, hard boiled

Garlic Aioli (mayo and a bit of garlic oil works too)

Wasabi/wasabi powder

Salt

Potato

Walnuts

Chives, chopped finely

Oil (any oil to fry potatoes in)

THAT'S LITERALLY IT! AND IT CAME OUT SUPER WELL

1. Using a mandolin, slice potatoes as thinly as possible. If they come out a bit lopsided (thin on one end, thick on the other) that's okay, it gives an interesting texture to the final product
2. Using a 6-7cm cookie cutter, cut circular pieces from the potato slices (OR don't and it gives a different vibe)
3. Place the potato slices in a bowl of ice water and mix until the water becomes cloudy. Replace water and repeat until water runs clear.
4. On a small tray, place the slices of potatoes and put into the same oven as the scones (220°C). On the same tray, add 5-10 walnuts to toast. Remove as soon as they display ANY signs of browning, we just want them to cook, not crispen up in the oven.
5. In a small pot, heat up some oil. Then, fry potatoes until crispy and golden-brown. Place on a plate and hit immediately with a bit of salt.
6. Grind the roasted walnuts into small pieces. 
7. For the eggs, halve all of the eggs lengthwise
8. In a bowl, scoop out the yolks and place the remaining egg whites on a serving platter face up
9. In the bowl, mix aioli, wasabi and a bit of salt to taste. The flavour should highlight the wasabi without it becoming overpowering, and while still leaving some flavour of the garlic and salt. Whisk until creamy.
10. Scoop little bits of this mixture back into each egg white.
11. To plate, top each egg with a bit of walnut, some chives and a singular potato chip, as shown in the picture. Optionally, add a pinch of red chilli powder or paprika on top too. 

AND YEAH! THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK!

Here are today's bonus recipes: 

Homemade Vanilla Extract

5-10 vanilla beans

300-500ml vodka

1. Slice the vanilla beans open lengthwise and put into a tall glass bottle (I recommend using one with a cork lid). Then, fill the bottle with vodka, and leave. In about 1 year, you have pretty decent vanilla extract. 
2. Keep making new batches by using the old beans, adding a couple more vanilla beans and using about 10% of the original extract in the new one. 

How to use excess whipped cream, lemon curd and strawberries

1. In the night, freeze the whipped cream mixture
2. Buy waffle/pancake mix, or just make a basic french toast
3. For breakfast the next day, make the waffles/pancakes/french toast, and top with scoops of the frozen whipped cream, strawberries and/or lemon curd. Optionally, use some of the excess crushed walnuts from the devilled eggs recipe on top, and if you REALLY want to have some fun, you can maybe candy them as well.