By The Tracy-Patton-neighbor baby shower catering job was Saturday. Twenty-five guests, light tea-style fare, cake to follow. The neighbor (Stephanie Yates, due with her first in mid-April) had wanted a small Sunday-afternoon shower in the Pattons’ back yard with a refreshment-table that read as gentle and feminine and easy to eat one-handed while making small talk. Mama had suggested tea sandwiches as the right form factor and I had agreed on the call Tuesday.
The mint-cucumber tomato sandwich is the showpiece of the tea-sandwich tray — thin-sliced sourdough crusts removed, a thin spread of herbed cream cheese (cream cheese plus chopped fresh mint plus a pinch of salt), thin-sliced English cucumber, thin-sliced cherry tomato (cut horizontally to fit the rounds), a small leaf of mint as garnish. The sandwich is delicate. It does not hold for long once assembled. The trick at scale is making the components in advance and assembling within the last hour before service.
I made seventy-five sandwiches Saturday morning at Mama’s cafe kitchen from six AM to nine AM. Mama held Brayden in the dining room for the three hours while she did the cafe’s breakfast service in parallel (the cafe was running its normal Saturday rhythm with Cody on the kitchen and Mama on the floor as floor manager). Aunt Linda met me at the cafe at nine to ride with me to deliver the sandwiches to the Patton house in Sapulpa. The delivery was the easy part. The handoff to Stephanie was the easy part. The whole job ran four hours from kitchen to handoff.
Sunday I made a small home-batch of the sandwich to write up for the blog. The proportions for a six-sandwich home batch are different from the proportions for a seventy-five-sandwich catering batch in the same way that any home recipe is different from its catering-scale version. The home batch is what the post documents.
Aunt Linda’s small twice-weekly Tulsa-visits continue. She arrives at two PM. She stays for two hours. She holds Brayden (and later helps with both kids). She drinks the small cup of coffee I keep ready. We talk through the small week’s family-news. The small visits are the small social-thread that connects the Tulsa-apartment-life to the small Sapulpa-extended-family.
Brayden’s small developmental milestones have been arriving on the small typical-schedule. The pediatrician has been pleased at the small monthly check-ins. The small baby-and-now-toddler life continues to be the small foreground of the small family-of-three rhythm.
Mint-Cucumber Tomato Sandwiches
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 slices sandwich bread (white, wheat, or sourdough)
- 1/2 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese or herb spread, softened
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the vegetables. Thinly slice the cucumber and tomato. Pat dry with a paper towel to keep the bread from getting soggy—especially important if you’re packing this for later.
- Make the spread. In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese, chopped mint, salt, pepper, and lemon juice if using. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- Assemble the sandwiches. Spread the mint cream cheese evenly across all four slices of bread. Layer cucumber slices on two of the slices, then top with tomato slices.
- Finish and pack. Close the sandwiches, pressing gently. Slice in half diagonally. Wrap tightly in parchment or foil if packing for lunch—they hold well for several hours.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 380mg