Coronation Chicken Salad Tarts

Oh, I had big plans for celebrating this weekend's Coronation of King Charles III. I was going to do this and I was going to do that. I first was enthused by the Coronation Quiche. But then everyone was doing it.
I did not want to do what everyone else was doing. So I gave up that idea.
Everyone is also doing Coronation Chicken Salad. I really like Coronation Chicken Salad. It is a very popular sandwich filler in the UK, although myself I prefer it on a bed of lettuce.
Coronation tea

In the end I decided to throw together a quick tea party and make some tasty Coronation Chicken Salad Tarts to serve. I quite like taking afternoon tea and I have had lots of experience at putting them together as I did many, many of them when I was living in the UK.

I am somewhat limited now as I just don't have the dishes and linens to use, but I thought it would be fun to show you just how quickly you can throw together a simple afternoon tea with minimal effort. Are you in? I hope so!

These are very simple cucumber sandwiches. Cucumber sandwiches are very popular on the tea table. To make these I buttered some sugar free white whole grain bread lightly. I then used a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut out flower shaped bread bases.
Onto those I popped a thin slice of cucumber, and on the cucumber I popped a small ball of onion and garlic Boursin cheese. You can get it in a little pot already rolled into small balls, so cute.
I made some simple radish roses to garnish the plate. They are very easily done. Just wash and dry your radishes and then top and tail then so you have a flat surface at either end. Then take the tip of a sharp knife and insert it in a zig zag pattern all round the middle of the radish, going through to the center but no further.
Once you have done that all the way around you can easily twist them apart and pop them into some ice water until you are ready to use them. Very pretty and such a simple make.

Scones are a must with afternoon tea. You can make your own, or you buy some in ready made. I have a great Plain Scone recipe which you can find here.
Its a complete tutorial and if followed will yield 6 to 10 beautiful scones. I also have a fruited scone recipe which is amazing. You can find that recipe here. This is also a complete tutorial.
You can serve the scones with clotted cream if you are so lucky as to have some available to you, or you can serve them with whipped thick cream, and of course some jam. Today my jam was mango and peach. Bonne Maman of course. I love their jams.

The center of any good tea table is usually a cake. You can make a lovely cake from scratch if you have the time, but if it is the last minute, you can buy a very good cake from the shops and dress it up, which is what I have done here today.
This was a simple Birthday Butter cake, single layer with a natural butter cream frosting. I carefully scraped off the red roses and green leaves that were on the top with a sharp knife and then I covered the top with fresh fruit, raspberries and blackberries.
I wanted it to look like the Union Jack to honor the occasion, but alas, it lost something in translation. I think it would have looked better on a much larger cake. Never mind, it was still pretty and it tasted fabulous.

Then I added a small plate of some other sweet meats I happened to have in the house. An assortment of chocolate covered cookies/biscuits and some small tarts, jam, lemon curd and butter. None of the tarts was any larger than a mouthful, which is what you want.

Some other things you could have are small bite sized sausage rolls, or deviled eggs. You can have more than one kind of finger sandwich if you wanted to. Some suggestions are egg salad and cress, sliced tomato and cheese, and cheese and pickle.

These Coronation Chicken Salad Tarts make the perfect bite of course! Easy to hold in the hand and no more than three or four bites of deliciousness.
Flavored with some apple cider vinegar and curry powder. You can adjust how much, using more or less according to your taste.
I kept everything chopped very small because I was putting the salad into small baked tart shells. You can use leftover cooked chicken, chopped, or you can poach some chicken breast meat to use, which is what I did.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CORONATION CHICKEN SALAD TARTS
Very simple ingredients and not a lot really. I have downsized and adapted the recipe for the filling from a chicken salad recipe I found here. You can of course use it as a sandwich filling, or serve it on lettuce leaves. Its up to you.
For the chicken:

3/4 pound (340g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup (240ml) chicken stock
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

For the dressing:

3/4 cup (165g) mayonnaise
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 TBS honey
1 TBS good quality mango chutney
1 1/2 - 2 tsp mild curry powder
salt and black pepper to taste

You will also need:

The rounded cheek of 1/2 red apple, cut into 1//4 inch dice (about 1/4 cup)
2 TBS raisins, chopped
2 TBS chopped salted cashew nuts
2 TBS red onion, finely chopped
12 baked small tart shells (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)

Because I knew I was going to be filling baked tart shells, I made sure to chop everything for the salad very fine, about a 1/4 inch dice. An apple cheek is the rounded part of an apple, its cheek. 😄
I did not bother to peel because I wanted the color of the red skin. I chose to add some chutney on my own. It was not a part of the original chicken salad recipe. I like chutney and I love it in a curried chicken salad.

HOW TO MAKE CORONATION CHICKEN SALAD TARTS
Its really very simple. If you are not using leftover roast chicken you will need to poach some. Very easily done.

To poach your chicken, place the chicken into a saucepan along with the stock, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat.Cook at a low simmer until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside (about 10 to 15 minutes.) Remove the pan from the heat and leave the chicken to cool completely in the broth.

Remove the chicken from the broth and chop finely. Place into a bowl.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together until smooth, adjusting seasoning as required.Fold the dressing into the chicken along with the apple, raisins, nuts and onion. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required. Cover and chill for an hour, or as long as overnight. (This helps to meld the flavors.)To serve spoon the chicken salad into the baked tart shells and serve immediately. I chose to garnish each tart with a salted cashew nut. If you are worried people might have nut allergies, leave the nuts out altogether.

These were really very moreish. With crisp buttery pastry, cupping that lush and lightly spiced and fruity chicken salad, they went down a real treat.
I think I had a very nice little plate of goodies there to quaff along with a nice hot cup of tea. Herbal of course. I chose Mint tea today.
I know that the King's coronation is actually tomorrow, but in the world of blogging we do and share everything early so as to give you all the time to do it as well, and on the day if you so wish! Enjoy!

Some other Royal teatime treats that you might enjoy are:

VICTORIA SCONES - From the Bero Cookbook, these lovely scones have a beautiful texture and go together quickly. Said to be a favorite of Queen Victoria's, these scones are decorated with sweet candied cherries.

QUEEN CAKES - These little currant studded buttery cakes go beautifully with tea. They can be baked in heart shaped tins or in muffin tins. Flavored with lemon zest, these are lovely little cakes that everyone enjoys!

QUEEN OF HEARTS JAM TARTS - These little jam tarts with their pastry heart adornment are absolutely gorgeous. I am not surprised the Knave of Hearts wanted to steal them! They are delicious!

Yield: 12 tartsAuthor: Marie Rayner