Roast Beef and Avocado Finger Sandwiches

Epicurious, Tracey Seaman, June/07. These slender, snack sized sandwiches, will get appetites going, especially out in the fresh air. We enjoyed these thoroughly! They are great!

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Yields: 18 hors d'oeuvres

Ingredients

• 1  medium  ripe  california avocado (preferably Hass)
• 1  tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1  tablespoon fresh chives, minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 12  slices  white bread (very thin slices , Pepperidge Farms is what we used)
• 2  tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1⁄8 teaspoon  prepared horseradish
• 1⁄2 lb  purchased thinly sliced roast beef or 1⁄2 lb  premade thinly sliced rare roast beef

Directions

1. In small bowl, mash avocado with fork.
2. Stir in lemon juice, chives, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread avocado mash over 6 slices bread, dividing evenly.
4. Mix mayonnaise with prepared horseradish.
5. Spread other 6 slices bread with about 1 teaspoon each horseradish-mayonnaise.
6. Top with roast beef, dividing evenly.
7. Gently press avocado-topped bread slices, avocado sides down, onto each sandwich.
8. Using long serrated knife, trim off crusts and cut each sandwich lengthwise into thirds.
9. *Transportation tips: Transfer the sandwiches to a covered plastic container to transport them to the picnic, and then simply pass around the container to serve. To keep the bread from drying out, when stacking the sandwiches in the container, lay a sturdy, barely moistened paper towel between each layer and another one over the top.