With King Charles III’s first Trooping the Colour taking place this weekend, you may be inspired to give your meals a royal twist. While you may think a royal recipe will be a complicated one, it doesn’t have to be - and there’s one dish the late Queen loved which is perfect for hot weather.
Queen Elizabeth II used to enjoy small cucumber sandwiches, which would be served by Buckingham Palace staff as part of an afternoon tea she had each day. The palace chefs would use a secret ingredient they would add to the humble handwich to elevate the flavour, The Mirror reports.
TV presenter Jenny Hanley revealed the trick after she attended a Garden Party at the palace and she shared her experience on Boom Radio. She explained that while there she enjoyed cucumber sandwiches and said they were "wonderful".
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Jenny recalled: "The most wonderful thing that happened at one of the Buckingham Palace garden parties that I was lucky enough to go to was not the fact of the scones but the cucumber sandwiches.
"They may be a joke to some people, but when you've had a cucumber sandwich out on the grass at the back of Buckingham Palace and the sun is shining and there's mint in it, then you know you've made it!"
"I will never make a cucumber sandwich without chopped mint in it again."
The sandwiches were made with white bread, buttered, and topped with sliced cucumber, a dash of mint, and a sprinkle of pepper. You can buy fresh mint from the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's for as little as 52p to give it a go for yourself.
With the sandwiches Queen Elizabeth II would enjoy a cup of tea, with Earl Grey or Assam being her preferred blends, with a plash of milk added afterward. According to former chef Darren, she loved a slice of chocolate biscuit cake. It’s made using dark chocolate and Rich Tea biscuits - even Prince William and Kate Middleton are said to be fans and reportedly served it at their wedding.
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