Lemon Shrimp and Herby Cream Cheese Sandwiches - No Cooking Required!

My biggest challenge with this recipe was finding the cream cheese.

Though this recipe is very simple, finding the cream cheese was harder than my previous statement might imply. This is another recipe that I made up while in Bristol, but at the time of my brainstorming I wasn't actually sure if cream cheese was a thing there.

I didn't care if it was popular or if I would peg myself as American by purchasing it, I was just hoping to find it.

After wandering the grocery store aisles (not just one store, but three) a couple of times I was almost convinced it didn't exist there. This didn't make sense to me though because I had been reading a magazine on a previous day that was full of recipes and some of them called for cream cheese. I figured it must be somewhere.

The mission went on.

A couple of days later while walking around looking for something totally unrelated to cream cheese, I stumbled upon an end cap full of little packages that looked like they belonged to Philadelphia cream cheese! There was full fat, reduced fat, and several different flavors. It looked much like a section I might see in any American grocery store, except I had one concern. It wasn't called cream cheese. It was called soft cheese.

I ended up deciding that it must just have a different name and I went forward with my purchase. My pregnant self was skeptical to even taste it because there are many soft cheeses that I do not like and I didn't want to have an unknown and unpleasant taste in my mouth. Much to my delight, after one little lick of the knife I knew it tasted just right. I carried on preparing these shrimp sandwiches wondering what the reason might be that we call it cream cheese and they call it soft cheese.

Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything. But I could also never figure out why we say umbrella and they say brolly, we say eggplant and they say aubergine, and it was hilarious when people called my husband lad.

Oh the joys of England : )

  

Lemon Shrimp and Herby Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:
2 big rolls
1/2 lb. frozen cooked shrimp, thawed
Lemon juice from half a lemon
4 oz. cream cheese
1-2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
Smoked paprika
Salt to taste

Directions:
Toss the shrimp with the lemon juice and some salt. Add the fresh dill and basil to the cream cheese and combine well. Cut your rolls in half, spread on some cream cheese, top with a pile of shrimp, and garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

Enjoy!