Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 7

Wash and soak the apricots, and when they are thoroughly softened cook them until tender in just enough water to keep them from burning. Put them through a sieve or a colander and add the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice to the pulp. Place over the fire and cook until the mixture becomes thick, stirring constantly to keep it from scorching. Set aside to cool.

Cut bread into thin slices, b.u.t.ter one slice, and spread the other of each pair of slices with the apricot filling. Put each two slices together and trim the edges if desired. Serve.

122. JELLY AND MARMALADE SANDWICHES.--Jelly and marmalade always make acceptable filling for sandwiches, and as these foods are usually in supply sandwiches containing them require less trouble to prepare than do most sandwiches. Then, too, if two kinds of sandwiches are to be served for a tea or a little lunch, sandwiches of this kind are very nice for the second one. They are made in the usual way, but if the jelly or marmalade is very thin, it is an excellent plan to spread each slice of bread used for the sandwich thinly with b.u.t.ter so that the filling will not soak into the bread.

Slices of Boston brown bread steamed in small round cans, such as baking-powder cans, and a filling of jelly or marmalade make dainty little sandwiches for afternoon tea.

HIGH-PROTEIN SANDWICHES

123. When sandwiches of a substantial nature are desired, those in which high-protein foods are used as fillings will be found very acceptable.

Here considerable variety may be had, for there are a number of these foods that make excellent fillings. Some sandwiches of this kind are suitable for serving with salads while others, such as those containing meat or chicken, are very satisfactory for picnics or light lunches.

124. JELLY-AND-CREAM-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--A sandwich that is very dainty as well as unusually good is made by using both jelly and cream cheese for filling. Sandwiches of this kind are shown on the plate to the right in Fig. 25. If a red jelly, such as currant jelly, is used, the appearance of the sandwich will be better than if a light jelly or a very dark jelly is used.

Cut the bread very thin and match three slices for the sandwich instead of two. Spread the first piece thinly with b.u.t.ter and spread the opposite side of the second piece with jelly. Place this on the b.u.t.tered bread and spread the other side with cream cheese. Spread another piece with b.u.t.ter and place this on top of the cream cheese. Trim the edges if desired, and cut into narrow strips. Serve.

125. RYE-BREAD-AND-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Rye bread and cheese make a favored combination with many persons. Swiss cheese is an excellent kind to serve with rye bread, but the American-made Cheddar cheese does very nicely if the other cannot be procured.

Cut rye bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Spread them very thinly with b.u.t.ter, and between each two slices place a thin slice of the cheese. Serve mustard with sandwiches of this kind for any one who may desire it.

126. CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Cheese combined with pimiento, sweet pickles, olives, and nuts makes a filling that has an excellent flavor.

Sandwiches containing this filling will be found to be very good for picnics or lunches. Their food value, which, of course, is high, depends somewhat on the amount of filling used.

CHEESE FILLING

1/4 lb. cheese 1/4 c. English walnut meats 1 pimiento 1/2 doz. olives, cut from stones 2 sweet pickles

Put the cheese through a grinder unless it is soft enough to mash. Chop the pimiento, pickles, nuts, and olives quite fine and add the cheese.

Work together with a spoon. Cut bread into thin slices, spread one piece with b.u.t.ter, the other one with the cheese filling, place the two together, trim if desired, and serve.

127. CHEESE-AND-NUT SANDWICHES.--Cream cheese is used in the accompanying recipe, but other cheese may be subst.i.tuted for it if desired. Sandwiches containing this filling are high in both protein and fat, and may be served very nicely with a vegetable salad.

CHEESE-AND-NUT FILLING

1 pkg. cream cheese 1/3 c. English walnut meats 4 Tb. salad dressing

Mash the cheese with a spoon and add the salad dressing. Just before making the sandwiches, add the nut meats, which have been chopped very fine. If this mixture is put together and allowed to stand for any length of time before serving, the filling will grow dark.

Cut bread thinly, b.u.t.ter one slice, place filling on the opposite slice, put together, trim if desired, and serve.

128. PEANUT-b.u.t.tER SANDWICHES.--Peanut b.u.t.ter alone makes a rather dry sandwich, as it has a peculiar consistency that makes it difficult to swallow without moistening. This condition can be overcome by adding a little salad dressing to the peanut b.u.t.ter.

Place a few tablespoonfuls of peanut b.u.t.ter in a bowl and pour a sufficient amount of salad dressing into it to moisten it enough to spread. Season with salt. Cut slices of bread thin, spread one piece with b.u.t.ter, the opposite piece with peanut b.u.t.ter, place together, trim if desired, and serve.

129. HARD-COOKED-EGG SANDWICHES.--An excellent sandwich filling can be made by seasoning hard-cooked eggs and combining them with vinegar. To make this filling, cook the desired number of eggs until they are hard.

Remove them from the sh.e.l.ls and put them through a sieve. Season well with salt and pepper and then add sufficient vinegar to make them of a good consistency to spread. Cut bread thin, spread one piece with b.u.t.ter, and the opposite piece with the egg mixture. Put them together, trim the edges if desired, and serve.

130. MEAT SANDWICHES.--Cold cooked meat may be used in sandwiches in the usual way by putting thin slices between b.u.t.tered bread, or it may be put through the grinder or chopped finely and then mixed with salad dressing until thin enough to spread. With the meat may also be chopped pickles, olives, a small amount of onion, green pepper, pimiento, or anything desired for flavoring. Left-over roast meat that will not slice very well and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs from ham may be utilized in this way.

When a filling of chopped meat is to be used, slice bread thin, spread one slice with b.u.t.ter and the opposite slice with the meat filling. Put together, trim if desired, and serve.

131. CHICKEN SANDWICHES.--Cold chicken sliced thinly, put between pieces of crisp toast, and spread with salad dressing, makes a sandwich that is most delicious and offers a pleasant change from the usual plain-bread sandwich. Cut bread 1/4 inch thick and toast it a delicate brown on both sides. Spread thinly with b.u.t.ter when it comes from the toaster. Between each two pieces place thin slices of chicken. Spread the chicken with a small amount of salad dressing, place a lettuce leaf on top of this, and cover with a second piece of toast. Serve.

132. CHICKEN-SALAD SANDWICHES.--When there is on hand only a small amount of chicken that is perhaps not in the right condition for slicing, it is a good plan to make a salad of it and use this for sandwich filling. If necessary, a little veal or pork may be used with the chicken.

CHICKEN-SALAD FILLING

1 c. cold meat 1 hard-cooked egg 1/2 c. chopped celery Salad dressing 1 small onion

Chop all the ingredients very fine, mix together, and season well with salt and pepper. Add sufficient salad dressing to moisten well. Cut bread thin and spread a slice with b.u.t.ter and another slice with the sandwich mixture. Place a lettuce leaf over this, put the two pieces of bread together, trim and serve.

HOT SANDWICHES

133. All the sandwiches thus far discussed are served cold, but various hot sandwiches can also be made. As these generally have meat or a high-protein food for their filling, they may be used as the main dish in the meal in which they are served. Sandwiches of this kind are excellent for a light luncheon or for supper.

134. HOT-MEAT SANDWICHES.--If both meat and gravy remain from a roast, a very excellent luncheon dish may be made by slicing the meat thin, placing it on slices of bread, and pouring the gravy, which has been heated, over both the bread and meat. There may be a second layer of bread on top of the meat if desired.

135. HOT FRIED-EGG SANDWICHES.--A very good way in which to serve eggs is to saute them and then make sandwiches of them. Spread slices of bread thinly with b.u.t.ter. Break the desired number of eggs into a frying pan with melted b.u.t.ter or other fat, season with salt and pepper, and fry on one side. Then turn and fry on the other side until the yolk becomes quite hard. Place an egg on one slice of the b.u.t.tered bread, place a second slice over this, and serve while hot.

136. HAM-AND-EGG SANDWICHES.--The combination of ham and eggs is always a good one, but it becomes especially palatable when used in a sandwich, as here explained. Slice boiled ham into thin slices and saute in hot fat for a few minutes. Then break into a bowl as many eggs as will be required, beat slightly, and pour over the slices of ham in the frying pan. When the ma.s.s has cooked well on one side, turn and cook on the opposite side. There should not be sufficient egg to make this very thick. Season well with salt and pepper and when the mixture is thoroughly cooked, cut it into pieces of a size to fit the bread used for the sandwiches. Cut the bread, b.u.t.ter it slightly, place a piece of the ham-and-egg mixture between each two slices of bread, and serve hot.

If desired, toast may be used in place of bread and a more delicious sandwich will be the result.

137. CLUB SANDWICHES.--Nothing in the way of sandwiches is more delicious than club sandwiches if they are properly made. They involve a little more work than most sandwiches, but no difficulty will be experienced in making them if the directions here given are carefully followed. The ingredients necessary for sandwiches of this kind are bread, lettuce, salad dressing, bacon, and chicken. The quant.i.ty of each required will depend on whether a two- or a three-layer sandwich is made and the number of sandwiches to be served.

Cut the bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick and cut each slice diagonally across to form two triangular pieces. Trim the crust and toast the bread on a toaster until it is a light brown on both sides and then b.u.t.ter slightly if desired. Slice chicken into thin slices. Broil strips of bacon until they are crisp. On a slice of toast, place a lettuce leaf and then a layer of sliced chicken, and spread over this a small quant.i.ty of salad dressing, preferably mayonnaise. On top of this, place strips of the broiled bacon and then a second slice of toast. If desired, repeat the first layer and place on top of it a third slice of toast. This should be served while the bacon is still hot. Thin slices of tomato may also be used in each layer of this sandwich if desired.

138. CHEESE DREAMS.--With persons who are fond of melted cheese, a favorite kind of sandwich is that known as cheese dreams. These make a good dish for a Sunday evening supper or for an evening lunch.

Cut bread about 1/4 inch thick. Cut slices of cheese about half as thick, and between each two slices of bread place a slice of the cheese.

Place these on a broiler, broil first on one side and then on the other until the cheese is thoroughly melted, or saute the sandwiches in a frying pan with melted b.u.t.ter, first on one side and then on the other.

Serve while hot.

OPEN SANDWICHES

139. If sandwiches that are entirely different and at the same time attractive are desired for an afternoon tea or to serve with a salad, open sandwiches will undoubtedly find favor. Fig. 27 ill.u.s.trates several varieties of such sandwiches and shows how artistically they can be made. These are merely submitted as suggestions, but with a little ingenuity, the housewife may work out in designs any ideas she may have.

To make such sandwiches attractive, fancy cutters of various shapes will be found helpful. As here shown, round, diamond-shaped, crescent-shaped, triangular, and star-shaped cutters have been used.

140. The most suitable materials for open sandwiches include cream cheese, jam, stuffed olives, chopped parsley, hard-cooked eggs with the yolks or whites forced through a ricer, pimiento cut into attractive shapes, and any other material that will add either flavor or color.

Either white or brown bread may be used. After cutting the bread in the preferred shapes, spread first with b.u.t.ter, if desired, and then with cream cheese, jam, or jelly. With this done, decorate the sandwiches in any desired way. Slices of stuffed olives are placed in the center of several here shown and strips or small pieces of pimiento are used for much of the decoration. On those that have jam or jelly for their foundation, cream cheese put through a pastry tube forms the decoration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27, Plate of decorative open-faced sandwiches.]

141. If an accompaniment for a salad is desired and time will not permit the making of open sandwiches, small crisp crackers, decorated with cream cheese, as shown in Fig. 28, will be a very good subst.i.tute. These are excellent with a vegetable or a fruit salad; also, when served after the dessert they make a good final course to a meal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28, Plate of crackers decorated with cream cheese.]