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Devilled Sandwiches
2 ounces Jordan almonds butter 2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickles 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon chutney 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1 cup cottage cheese 3 tablespoons cream Blanch and shred the almonds and saute in enough butter to prevent burning, until delicately browned. Mix the sweet pickle sauce, chutney, salt and paprika. Pour this over the almonds and cook for 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Work a cup of cottage cheese to a paste with a little thick cream and use a layer of the cheese and one of the nut mixture between buttered slices of graham or Boston brown bread.
A savoury spread sandwich from the era when "devilled" meant nothing more than sharply seasoned. Everything hinges on the almonds: they carry the texture, and they scorch quickly once the sugary chutney and pickle go in.
- Jordan almondsIn older cookery this means the large, flat, sweet almonds originally shipped from Malaga, sold raw in the shell or skin-on -- not the pastel sugar-shelled confection the name now brings to mind. Use whole raw almonds.
- Blanching and shreddingPour boiling water over the almonds, stand two minutes, and slip the skins off; while still damp they slice cleanly lengthwise into thin slivers. Packaged slivered almonds are an acceptable shortcut, though they brown faster because they are drier.
- Butter quantityThe original gives no measure. Two to three teaspoons in a small skillet is enough to keep a couple of ounces of almonds moving without frying them.
- The two-minute cookOnce the chutney and pickle mixture hits the pan, the sugars in both will catch almost at once. Keep the heat moderate, stir without stopping, and pull the pan the moment the liquid coats the nuts. This is the step that decides whether the filling tastes toasted or burnt.
- Cottage cheesePeriod cottage cheese was drier and more curdy than most tubs sold today. Drain modern cottage cheese in a sieve for a few minutes before mashing, then add the cream a spoonful at a time -- you want a spreadable paste, not a loose one that will soak the bread.
- Cream"Thick cream" means heavy cream, around 36 percent fat. Three tablespoons may be more than you need if the cheese is wet.
- The breadsGraham bread is a coarse wholewheat loaf; Boston brown bread is the steamed loaf of rye, cornmeal and wholewheat sweetened with molasses, dense and slightly sweet, and it slices best cold and thin. Either one is doing real work here against the salt and vinegar in the filling.
- YieldEnough filling for six to eight sandwiches, or roughly two dozen small tea-sandwich fingers with the crusts cut away. Assemble close to serving; the cheese layer softens the bread within an hour or two.