Recipes with Helen Austin Assembly Line Party Sandwiches |
© 2006 Helen Austin. All rights reserved.
Combine cream cheese (I use Neufchatel because it's soft enough to spread right out of the fridge) with
remaining sandwich spread ingredients of your choice. If using olive salad, chop finely or put through a
food processor. Season to taste. (You won't need to season the olive salad, but you might add a little
horseradish to pickle relish to cut the sweet taste.)
Lay bread slices out on a clean surface (tea towel optional). If you use both white and wheat bread, you
can make sandwiches with white on one side and wheat on the other. Spread every other slice evenly
with cream cheese mixture. Cover each with an "un-spread" slice of bread.
Using a bread knife with a serrated blade, carefully cut crusts from sandwiches. (You can feed these to
the birds and squirrels.) Then cut each sandwich into three "fingers" or diagonally into two triangles.
Wipe knife blade occasionally to keep sandwiches looking neat.
Place sandwiches in several layers on serving dish. (Finger sandwiches may be alternated like parquet,
wood flooring.) Garnish as desired. Cover tightly with plastic wrap until serving time.
NOTE: Pepperidge Farm thin-sliced is the only bread I've found to be firm-textured enough for spreading
these sandwiches.
remaining sandwich spread ingredients of your choice. If using olive salad, chop finely or put through a
food processor. Season to taste. (You won't need to season the olive salad, but you might add a little
horseradish to pickle relish to cut the sweet taste.)
Lay bread slices out on a clean surface (tea towel optional). If you use both white and wheat bread, you
can make sandwiches with white on one side and wheat on the other. Spread every other slice evenly
with cream cheese mixture. Cover each with an "un-spread" slice of bread.
Using a bread knife with a serrated blade, carefully cut crusts from sandwiches. (You can feed these to
the birds and squirrels.) Then cut each sandwich into three "fingers" or diagonally into two triangles.
Wipe knife blade occasionally to keep sandwiches looking neat.
Place sandwiches in several layers on serving dish. (Finger sandwiches may be alternated like parquet,
wood flooring.) Garnish as desired. Cover tightly with plastic wrap until serving time.
NOTE: Pepperidge Farm thin-sliced is the only bread I've found to be firm-textured enough for spreading
these sandwiches.
Helen Austin was food editor at the Arkansas Democrat for six years and has since been a
contributor to Active Years and the Arkansas Times. She is also writing for Arkansas Newsixty, a
quarterly publication of the Arkansas Times. Having no formal education in either journalism or
home economics, she credits any expertise in these fields to a lifelong interest in food and writing.
Helen's food philosophy consists of getting the best, freshest ingredients available, then cooking
them in the simplest manner possible. She and her husband, Jerry, prepare most of their meals at
home.
contributor to Active Years and the Arkansas Times. She is also writing for Arkansas Newsixty, a
quarterly publication of the Arkansas Times. Having no formal education in either journalism or
home economics, she credits any expertise in these fields to a lifelong interest in food and writing.
Helen's food philosophy consists of getting the best, freshest ingredients available, then cooking
them in the simplest manner possible. She and her husband, Jerry, prepare most of their meals at
home.
Pepperidge Farm thin-sliced bread (white, wheat, or both), see NOTE
1 8-ounce package light or "Neufchatel" cream cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup (TOTAL) finely chopped onion, celery, nuts and/or olives OR
1/4 to 1/2 cup commercial olive salad or pickle relish, thoroughly drained
Salt, pepper, Creole seasoning, few drops hot sauce and/or prepared horseradish to taste
Fresh herbs, grape tomatoes, olives etc. (optional for garnish)
1 8-ounce package light or "Neufchatel" cream cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup (TOTAL) finely chopped onion, celery, nuts and/or olives OR
1/4 to 1/2 cup commercial olive salad or pickle relish, thoroughly drained
Salt, pepper, Creole seasoning, few drops hot sauce and/or prepared horseradish to taste
Fresh herbs, grape tomatoes, olives etc. (optional for garnish)
Whenever we have a death in our church family, I am asked to make sandwiches. Whether we're
taking food to the home of the departed or having a reception at the church, when I ask the parish
administrator, “What can I do?” she always answers, “Make your sandwiches.”
I've been making party sandwiches for a long time. It started years and years ago when I was visiting in
the home of an out-of-town boyfriend. Finding myself in the kitchen with his mother, I got a crash
course in Party Sandwiches 101.
My boyfriend's mother had a dozen slices of bread laid out on a tea towel on the kitchen counter. She
spread all the bread slices with mayonnaise, then every other bread slice with mustard and pickle
relish, then a very thin slice of roast beef, which she topped with a lettuce leaf and the other slice of
bread. She was a sort of one-woman assembly line.
“Have you ever made sandwiches this way?” she asked, neatly slicing the crusts from the sandwich
bread, then cutting each sandwich in two triangles. When I said I had not, she laughed. “I grew up doin'
it,” she said. “You see, I was raised havin' pahties.” (I should mention that my boyfriend's mother was
from Indianola in the Mississippi Delta, where they have “pahties” at the drop of a hat.)
It was some years before I used what I learned in Party Sandwiches 101, mainly because the “pahties” I
hosted as a single girl — and later a young married — usually featured sausage/cheese balls and
Pickapeppa sauce floated over a block of cream cheese.
But at some point I became involved in church reception food. Drawing on memories of my boyfriend's
mother's sandwich-making technique, I volunteered to make several dozen sandwiches for a church
function. The rest is history.
Although it's not exactly rocket science, there's a technique to making pretty, tasty party sandwiches.
The basic rules are 1) Use very thin-sliced, firm-textured bread, 2) Make a sandwich
spread (as opposed to using sliced deli meats) and 3) DON'T overfill the sandwiches. You're not
being stingy, you just don't want the sandwiches to be gooey.
taking food to the home of the departed or having a reception at the church, when I ask the parish
administrator, “What can I do?” she always answers, “Make your sandwiches.”
I've been making party sandwiches for a long time. It started years and years ago when I was visiting in
the home of an out-of-town boyfriend. Finding myself in the kitchen with his mother, I got a crash
course in Party Sandwiches 101.
My boyfriend's mother had a dozen slices of bread laid out on a tea towel on the kitchen counter. She
spread all the bread slices with mayonnaise, then every other bread slice with mustard and pickle
relish, then a very thin slice of roast beef, which she topped with a lettuce leaf and the other slice of
bread. She was a sort of one-woman assembly line.
“Have you ever made sandwiches this way?” she asked, neatly slicing the crusts from the sandwich
bread, then cutting each sandwich in two triangles. When I said I had not, she laughed. “I grew up doin'
it,” she said. “You see, I was raised havin' pahties.” (I should mention that my boyfriend's mother was
from Indianola in the Mississippi Delta, where they have “pahties” at the drop of a hat.)
It was some years before I used what I learned in Party Sandwiches 101, mainly because the “pahties” I
hosted as a single girl — and later a young married — usually featured sausage/cheese balls and
Pickapeppa sauce floated over a block of cream cheese.
But at some point I became involved in church reception food. Drawing on memories of my boyfriend's
mother's sandwich-making technique, I volunteered to make several dozen sandwiches for a church
function. The rest is history.
Although it's not exactly rocket science, there's a technique to making pretty, tasty party sandwiches.
The basic rules are 1) Use very thin-sliced, firm-textured bread, 2) Make a sandwich
spread (as opposed to using sliced deli meats) and 3) DON'T overfill the sandwiches. You're not
being stingy, you just don't want the sandwiches to be gooey.
Recipe for Assembly Line Party Sandwiches |