Benedictine Spread

Out of the blue, my youngest son said to me, “Mom, you're not a girly girl.”

I was crushed! I mean, I thought I was girly. I cook. I stitch. I try to knit. I do girl stuff. I looked at him, shoulders raised, palms up, and said, “What do I look like, Andrew, someone who could change a truck tire?”

"”Yeah, mom,” he said, “I really think you could.” It was a compliment.

When you've raised two boys, battled three bouts of cancer, spent a lot of time on your own, and even more time as a round-the-clock caregiver, you become pretty tough out of necessity. But still, I thought I was girly.

Where am I going with this you ask? Back to my early, girly-girl days when I had a pink room with pink and white furniture, lace curtains, ruffled dresses, and loved attending wedding showers that my mother seemed to host with great frequency. I loved the packages and ribbons and ladies, the blushing bride, glasses of punch, and fancy little sandwiches. A shower was not a shower without ribbon sandwiches. Remember those? A loaf of bread with crusts removed, sliced into three sections, slathered with two different fillings, put back together again, iced with a third filling, and then sliced? Those fascinated me, and were my first experience with Benedictine Spread, that often made up one of the layers or the frosting on the outside. It tasted fresh and delicate, and I felt like such a girly girl!

Showers haven't been the same in decades, but I still think of Benedictine Spread every time spring comes and wedding season begins. This recipe is one of my own, based upon years of tasting and experimentation. It is very forgiving, so add or subtract anything you like. It works well in ribbon sandwiches, individual tea sandwiches, piped into black olives, or onto slices of cucumber. It just tastes like spring!

Benedictine Spread

2 small Melissa’s mini cucumbers*

3 scallions (with tops)

1 garlic clove, roughly diced

8 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

1 Tablespoon Duke's mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

Dash of Crystal hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dense white sandwich bread

Cut cucumbers and scallions into quarters and place in a food processor. Add diced garlic and puree until combined thoroughly.

Place the puree in a fine mesh sieve to drain off excess liquid, pressing against it with a rubber spatula to facilitate draining.

Place the cucumber mixture back in the food processor and add the remaining ingredients, and puree until combined. Spread onto crustless slices of bread to make tea sandwiches, or pipe onto slices of cucumber. Serve immediately.

*If you don’t use Melissa’s that, with their thin skin, do not require peeling, use one medium cucumber (that you will need to peel) and remove seeds by cutting the peeled cucumber in half and scraping out the seeds with a spoon or the small side of a melon baller.

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