When you spend a year researching and creating sandwiches, you come to appreciate how the sandwich can elevate even the humblest of ingredients.
Take this retro celery toast, for instance. I never would have thought that celery belongs in a sandwich—let alone as the star—but after reading this beautiful essay by Gabrielle Hamilton, I had to give it a try, based on her recipe.
It features shaved celery, minced garlic, toast, butter, and blue cheese. It’s a study in simplicity, but it also takes time and care to shave the celery on the diagonal. It’s precision work, and shaving—not chunking—the celery is key to this dish. Slow down and enjoy the experience of pulling together a sandwich for your loved one.
The celery and minced garlic (Gabrielle’s recipe calls for thin slices of one large clove of garlic; I minced mine) gets marinated in a dressing of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Toast the bread—I was lucky enough to have pullman bread on hand, which is what Gabrielle recommends, but any kind of toastable bread will do. Butter it with unsalted butter.
Add blue cheese. Gabrielle’s recipe calls for slices of blue cheese; I spread it on the buttered toast instead. Be generous. (If you don’t like blue cheese, I’m sure brie will do; it will just be a less bold).
Celery salad goes down.
Now I add my own twist: I’ve chopped up some walnuts and fresh rosemary.
That gets toasted in a pan for a couple of minutes.
Then top the celery toasts with a smattering of rosemary walnut crumble. Slice each toast into quarters—squared or triangled.
This toast is simple yet elegant, and I think it merits breaking out the good dishes. A china plate, your best glassware.
I’m making cosmopolitans and serving this at cocktail hour. It feels old school; like you should just sit back and read the evening newspaper as the sun sets. It’s the perfect way to end A Year in Sandwiches. In January I set out to make 52 sandwiches and blog about my journey. I’ve made diner classics, vegetarian keepers, wraps, subs, burgers, tuna melts, breakfast sandwiches, and more.
Celery toasts remind me that there is still much more to be discovered in the sandwich world—the sandwich is just that versatile.
And these little numbers are simply swellegant.
— Trish Hennessy
A Year in Sandwiches 