SALAD SANDWICHES Don’t tell me you’ve never had a salad sandwich! When I was a girl, my
makes 4
family practically lived on them come summer, when it was steamy outside and the last thing my mom wanted to do was hunch over a hot
4 large eggs
stove. The salad sandwich is just what it sounds like: bread piled with
450g tomatoes, cut into 0.5-cm thick slices
stuff like tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and onion. My mum would add spring onions from her garden and slather the bread with butter and Heinz Salad Cream. The ones I make today aren’t much different, though I typically make my own version of salad cream and might occasionally add boiled eggs with oozy yolks or use goat’s cheese butter. Sometimes I’ll even bake my own white bread. But really, the little details are up to you.
1 medium crunchy cucumber with minimal seeds, thinly sliced 12 or so rings red onion or 24 or so rings red spring onions ½ lemon
Fill a medium pot at least halfway with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Use a slotted spoon to gently add the eggs to the water and cook them for 7 minutes (set a timer), then run them under cold water until they’re fully cooled. Lightly tap each egg against the counter to crack the shell all over, then carefully peel them. Slice them however you’d like just before you add them to the sandwich. Lay the tomato, cucumber and onion in more or less one layer on a large platter or cutting board. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the veg, then add a good drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Flip them over and rub them gently, just to make sure they’re all seasoned. Spread each slice of bread with butter. Layer the tomato, cucumber, onion, lettuce, salad cream, and eggs on 4 slices of bread: I like to start with the tomatoes, then lettuce, then a good old slather of salad cream, then the eggs, the cucumber, and finally the onion. Top with the remaining bread and give each sandwich a firm but gentle press with your palm. Eat straightaway.
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A good drizzle extra-v irgin olive oil Maldon or another flaky sea salt Eight 1-cm thick slices white bread A few knobs butter, at room temperature 225g Little Gem lettuce (about 2 heads) or another crunchy lettuce, root end and floppy outer leaves discarded, cut into 0.5-cm t hick slices About 3 tablespoons Salad Cream (page 237)