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
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.
Cannellini Bean Dip with Black Olives
Cannellini Bean Dip with Black Olives
