Free A Love Affair with Southern Cooking by Jean Anderson

Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes or until soft enough to spread.
2. Spread half the slices of bread with the watercress mixture, then top with the remaining slices, pressing down lightly.
3. With a sharp knife, halve each sandwich on the diagonal so that you have two small triangular sandwiches.
4. Arrange on a colorful plate and set out on a buffet or tea table. Or pass with cocktails.
    LITTLE TOMATO TRIANGLES
    MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN SMALL OR 6 DOZEN BITE-SIZE SANDWICHES
    One blistering summer night when I stopped by Crook’s Corner, a favorite Chapel Hill restaurant, chef Bill Smith sent out a plate of bite-size tomato sandwiches as an appetizer—the best I’ve ever eaten. Bill made them especially for us because one of his staff had brought in some tomatoes from her own garden. There are five ingredients only: bread, tomatoes, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. I now make these dandy little sandwiches whenever I find plum tomatoes full of flavor. They’re the best variety for this recipe because they have firmer flesh and fewer seeds. I quarter each tomato lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then slice each quarter into long strips 1 / 8 to ¼ inch wide and cut the strips crosswise into fine dice. Note: Southerners insist upon Duke’s mayo, but any good commercial brand will do. Tips: Much to my surprise, these sandwiches can be made several hours ahead of time—something I learned after shoving a plate of leftovers into the fridge. I’d layered the sandwiches between sheets of paper toweling, then draped the lot with plastic wrap. And here’s another plus: These sandwiches slice more cleanly when cold, so make the diagonal cuts (Step 3) after their stay in the fridge.
     
    4 firm-ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and finely diced but not peeled (see headnote)
    1 teaspoon salt
    ½ cup firmly packed mayonnaise
    ¼ teaspoon black pepper
    One 1-pound loaf firm-textured white sandwich bread (18 slices, not counting “heels”), crusts removed
1. Place the tomatoes in a large fine sieve, sprinkle with the salt, and let stand for 1 hour, shaking the sieve now and then to extract as much juice as possible. Pat the tomatoes dry on paper toweling, transfer to a small nonreactive bowl, and mix in 2 tablespoons of the mayonnaise and the pepper.
2. Using the remaining mayonnaise, skim-coat each slice of bread, then spread the tomato mixture over half of the slices. Place the remaining slices on top, mayonnaise sides down, and press firmly. Note: You can prepare the sandwiches up to this point several hours or even a day ahead of time (see Tips above).
3. Using a freshly sharpened knife, halve each tomato sandwich on the diagonal so that you have two fairly small triangles. Then, if you’re going for bite-size sandwiches, halve each triangle; I don’t recommend this unless the sandwiches are cold because the tomato filling will ooze out.
4. Arrange the tomato sandwiches on a colorful plate and serve with cocktails. Or set out on a tea or coffee buffet.
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    TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
     
1634
  
Twenty-eight-year-old Lord Baltimore founds the Maryland colony, bringing with him several hundred English men and women. En route, they pause in the Virginia colony long enough to provision themselves with hogs, cows, and poultry.
1672
  
King Charles II sends a group of wealthy British citizens to establish a colony in South Carolina. They call it Charles Towne.
1684–85
  
Captain John Thurber arrives in the port of Charles Towne from Madagascar, bringing with him a bag of rice. He gives it to Dr. Henry Woodward, who plants it and gets a good crop.
1691
  
Given permission to pay taxes with rice instead of money, South Carolina colonists plant vast fields of it and within a few decades, rice has become a major Lowcountry crop.
1698
  
Under Louis XIV, the French colonize Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi. Their presence helped to shape Louisiana