Open-Faced Sandwiches

Ingredients

4 slices multigrain bread, toasted
For the egg salad:
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/3 cup cottage cheese
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
For the tuna salad:
1 can oil-packed tuna, drained
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
½ cup green beans, blanched and thinly sliced
¼ cup red onion, chopped
¼ cup black olives, sliced
1 tablespoon capers, finely chopped
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Takes 30 Minutes, serves 4.

Instructions

Toast the bread.
Place all of the ingredients for the egg salad into a bowl and stir together. Season with salt and pepper.
Place all of the ingredients for the tuna salad into a second bowl and stir together. Taste and season with salt and pepper and more lemon juice.
Divide the egg salad between the four pieces of bread and spread out evenly across the surface. Add tuna salad onto the egg salad, spreading it out evenly. Garnish with a piece of flat-leaf parsley. Serve immediately.

Be open to the concept! These OPEN-FACED SANDWICHES are amazing!

Weekend at the Cottage is all about sharing useful, trusted tips about life at the cottage, and dear friends. Here’s an important one! If cottage guests offer to bring and prepare a meal, say yes! Having one less thing to prepare is always a good idea whenever you’re hosting.

Such was the case a few weeks back when my friends Abe and Ergy served up OPEN-FACED SANDWICHES on the dock for lunch. The company was perfect, the day was stellar. As they doled out their sammies, I studied their creation and thought, “I wanna try my hand at this brilliant idea.”

Before I share my take on their tasty treat, I better also include how these sammies are made even more enjoyable when served with one of our SUMMER DRINKS or a cold soup like our CHILLED GAZPACHO. For dessert? Try these GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIES!

Here are a few easy-to-follow tips on OPEN-FACED SANDWICHES.

Ingredients for the Open-Faced Sandwiches

GO AHEAD!

The best thing about these sandwiches is that they’re made with readily available ingredients. Second-best thing is that you can make two components – the egg and tuna salads – in advance. This is perfect for serving them midday, as we did. Make the salads in the morning and it just takes five minutes to assemble and serve.

The ingredients for the egg salad ready to be stirred together

EGGING YOU ON!

OK, it’s egg salad, so no need to reinvent the wheel. The goal here is to make it creamy, so mayonnaise is the expected addition, but adding cottage cheese and Dijon amp up the creaminess while adding an unexpected hit of extra flavour.

The colourful tuna salad ready to be added to the sandwiches

IN TUNA!

I looked at the tuna salad the guys presented and instantly thought, “That’s pretty Niçoise-esque!”, so I added a bunch of favourite ingredients from that salad. Expect a bigger, bolder flavour profile than your average tuna salad sandwich, and taste how it pairs perfectly with creamy egg salad. Feel free to add more of any ingredient to create the taste that suits your crowd. This is an open-faced sandwich recipe that really offers the best of both worlds.

OPEN SEASON

Yes, we could have put the second piece of toasted bread on top of the sandwiches, but why? We love, love, love the look of the finished creations, almost too beautiful to eat – I said almost because once you bite into it, you’ll gobble them up in record time. We sure did!

Thanks again to Abe and Ergy for their inspiration – come back soon and yes, bring more delicious food. You have a captive, hungry audience in cottage country!