http://www.goodfoodstories.com/2012/08/16/eating-my-words-oscar-wildes-cucumber-sandwiches/ - Oscar Wilde wrote:
- “I can resist everything except temptation.”
Oscar Wilde’s Tempting and Irresistible Cucumber Sandwiches
Total time: 20 minutes or so
Makes between 25 and 45 sandwiches, depending on how you slice them
Ingredients:
4-5 large cloves of garlic, depending on how garlicky you like things
1 11.5-oz. tub whipped Philadelphia cream cheese
a small handful of chives, about a quarter of an ounce
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large seedless cucumber
1 loaf Pepperidge Farm Very Thin bread
Method:
Mince garlic finely, smashing with the side of your knife for maximum pulpiness. (Note: since the garlic will remain raw, remove the germ, which leaves a bitter taste. Not sure if your garlic has sprouted? Cut the clove in half, lengthwise, to check. If you see a pale green sprout in the middle, pull it out.)
Mix the cream cheese and garlic in a bowl. Finely cut chives (I find this easier using scissors than a knife) into the bowl. Mix thoroughly, adding pepper to taste.
Slice the cucumber as thinly as possible—preferably about a millimeter thick (if you’re a mandoline enthusiast, this is a good time to pull yours out). If your cucumbers are too thick, your slices of bread will skid off each other when you go to slice your sandwich.
Assemble your sandwiches by spreading cream cheese thinly across each slice of bread and evenly covering half the cream cheese-covered slices with rounds of the translucently thin cucumber.
Sprinkle a tiny amount of salt on the cucumbers, if you like (I do!), and top with the another piece of bread. Cut the crusts off to leave yourself with a perfect square of sandwich. You can decide how to divide it: into quarters, rectangles, two triangles?—just ask yourself, What Would Wilde Do?
You can, of course, add other things to cucumber sandwiches if you so desire. As something of a purist, the only thing I ever add is watercress, but you could conceivably add arugula, thinly sliced radish, very thinly sliced ham, or any other favorite garnish.