Sandwiches – ideal for a picnic
One of my best memories from my childhood in Scotland is of our summer Saturday picnics. We used to walk through the woods beside a stream until we came to an old mill. The grown-ups made ’tinker's tea’ over an open fire while we children ran around and played. We waited eagerly until the food appeared – sandwiches – double, of course – with various fillings, home-made biscuits and sponge-cake. Everything tasted so much better out of doors.
There’s an interesting story behind British double sandwiches. In the middle of the 18th century there was an earl who was a passionate card player. His estate was in the south-east of England, around Sandwich ( which had been given its name, Sandvik, by invading Vikings). The earl of Sandwich did not want to leave the card-table even to eat, so he had his food fetched to him between two slices of bread. In that way his playing-cards didn’t become soiled. And that’s why sandwiches in Britain consist of two slices of bread with filling in between.
Nowadays sndwiches are an important part of ’afternoon tea’, a light meal eaten in the late afternoon. It consists of sandwiches, scones, a few kinds of small biscuits and, most often, a fruit cake.
There are any amount of sandwich fillings. Here are a couple of my favourites. The amounts given are enough for 2-3 people.
You can use any bread you choose. But if you want to make a lot of sandwiches, use a ready-sliced loaf.
Egg and cress filling:
Hard-boiled eggs, 2-3 depending on size
A good-sized lump of butter
Salt and pepper
Cress – as much as you wish
1. Chop the still-warm eggs with butter, salt and pepper.
2. Mix in the cress.
3. The cress can be exchanged for skinned, finely-chopped tomatoes.
Sardine and lemon filling:
1 can sardines in oil
Butter
Juice of 1 small or ½ big lemon
Salt and pepper
1. Pour off the oil from the sardines
2. Mix Everything to a smooth pastee
3. Spread all the slices of bread with butter
4. Put some filling on one slice, place another on top like a lid.
5. Cut the sandwiches diagonally in two or straight across in four.
Enjoy your picnic!