Culinary Guides

Brown bread, wafer-thin ham, and a punchy mustard and horseradish butter: this is the sandwich that quietly steals the show at afternoon tea or a picnic. It is cheap, quick, and easy to scale up, and a handful of peppery salad cress gives every bite a fresh, green snap.

Ingredients

• 100g (3½oz) butter, softened
• 2 tbsp coarse-grain mustard
• 1 tbsp hot horseradish
• 6 slices brown bread
• 175g (6oz) wafer-thin ham
• 1 punnet salad cress

Directions

1. In a bowl, beat the softened butter with the coarse-grain mustard and hot horseradish until well combined. This is the Tewkesbury butter.
2. Lay out the slices of brown bread and spread the Tewkesbury butter evenly over each one, right to the edges.
3. Lay the wafer-thin ham over half of the buttered slices.
4. Top the ham with a handful of fresh salad cress for a crisp, peppery layer.
5. Close the sandwiches with the remaining buttered bread and press gently.
6. Trim off the crusts, then cut each sandwich into quarters, squares, or triangles.
7. Arrange on a platter or pack for a picnic. Serve right away or keep chilled until needed.

To hold them a while, cover with a damp paper towel and wrap so they stay fresh. Whole-grain or seeded bread works well in place of plain brown bread.

Grower's tip: Salad cress is one of the fastest things you can grow. Scatter the seed thickly on damp soil or a tray on a sunny windowsill and snip it with scissors at about two inches tall, roughly two weeks from sowing, for the freshest peppery flavor.

You can grow the greens for this sandwich yourself. A tray of quick-growing cress and other salad greens from seed keeps a fresh, peppery supply on hand all year.