Afternoon Tea in The Westbury with Kitchen Hero Donal Skehan!

Last week I was delighted to be invited to Afternoon Tea at The Westbury by the wonderful Donal Skehan.  His new book Kitchen Hero has just hit the shelves of all the major book stores and Donal had organised a celebratory Afternoon tea with fellow food bloggers.

I have always been a massive fan of Afternoon Tea -  What could be better than a trip back in time when a platter of tasty fancies and copious amounts of tea were always on the menu. The Westbury is just the perfect setting for a truly decadent meal. Beautiful seating made up of comfortable sofas with large cushions and winged chairs. Each table was set perfectly with spotless white linen and crockery and patterned silver cutlery. The staff were friendly and the service was splendid.

The Westbury had approached Donal to use some of his delicious recipes to serve as a special Kichen Hero Afternoon Tea. It has the perfect selection of sweet and savoury dishes.

It consists of Bacon Avocado and Sundried Tomato Sandwich, Seared Beef Crostini with Rocket Pine Nuts and Parmesan, Blueberry and Lemon Scones, Cranberry and White Chocolate Muffins, Pink Berry and Almond Swirly Buns, Peanut Butter Snicker Squares and Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies. The cost is 40 euro per person and this includes a copy of Kitchen Hero.

Some of the staff of The Westbury expressing their delight at having Donal's involvement with the hotel's Afternoon Tea Menu.

Here is Donal with food stylist Sharon Hearne Smith.

It is great to get the opportunity to meet up with other Irish Food Bloggers. Here is Aoife from Babaduck Babbles and Claire from An American In Ireland and The Hollywood Craic.

Donal's new book Kitchen Hero is wonderful. He has a very fresh approach to cooking, delivering recipes that can easily be recreated at home. How many of us have cookbooks that have many delicious recipes but we have yet to try them out? This is because many of the dishes have the tendency to be complicated and really we would need a special occasion to warrant a new, extravagant dish. This certainly isn't the case with Kitchen Hero. The recipes will appeal to so many as they are easy to prepare with easy to source ingredients. There are also plenty of dishes that would work well for feeding a crowd. As always, Donal's food styling and photography is marvellous! I tried out a few of these lovely recipes from the book this week.

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Balsamic Roast Peppers{pg 34} one of Donal's meals in minutes. This is a great way to serve chicken and so tasty - I loved this dish!

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes {pg 77}. These are fabulous served as a side dish or chopped up and added to some cooked pasta.

Blueberry and Lemon Scones{pg190} which are part of The Westbury's Afternoon Tea. These are yummy especially with some homemade jam and cream!

Photos & styling by Nessa Robins.