Store in an airtight container.

 

I just love sandwiches . . . and I'm not alone in that either. The British all love sandwiches! They're a big business over here.  They're sold in all the shops, convenience stores, grocery shops, coffee shops etc.  Of course if you hadn't guessed already . . . Sarnie is another name for sandwich!

 

Makes it sound like something  quite exotic doesn't it?

 

One of my favourite places to buy a ready made sarnie is in M&S.  Their sandwiches are the best.  The bread is always fresh and the filling generous, and spread to the edge . . . not like some of the cheaper places where you get a dollop of filling in the  middle of two slices of dry bread . . . with more bread than filling!  Ugh!  Nasty.



I was quite suprised when I moved over here to the UK at the different varieties of sandwiches that were on offer as well.  Cheese and onion . . . delicious!  Cheese and tomato . . .  likewise!  There's salad sandwiches, sandwiches made with crab, or prawns or tuna.  Tuna and Cucumber seems to be quite popular.  As is Tuna and Sweetcorn.

 

Then there are Egg & Cress, Coronation Chicken, Corned Beef (made with tinned corned Beef, which is actually quite nice),  and a host of others . . . too many to list here I think, but you get the idea, I'm sure!



Anyways, the point of all of this is that I made Todd and myself a couple of very tasty sandwiches for our lunch one day at the weekend.  In  my quest to cut back a bit, I made them open faced sandwiches, so only half the bread.

 

I added some sliced ham, sliced turkey, half fat swiss cheese, lettuce, a delicious homemade dressing . . . kind of tangy and yet at the same time a bit sweet . . . some sliced egg, tomato and  . . . naughty but nice crisply cooked streaky bacon.  (Really nice . . .  dry cured and unsmoked is my choice!)



A gal can't be 100% good all of the time can she??  I thought not!!



 *Dressed Club Salad Sarnie*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

An open faced, knife and forker!  Delicious!  (Easily upped or downed to serve more or less people.)

2 slices sour dough bread
2 slices of baked deli ham
2 slices of Leerdammer cheese (Swiss type of cheese, I use the low fat one)
2 slices of deli turkey
1 cup of shredded cos lettuce (Romaine)
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
4 slices of streaky bacon, rind removed and cooked crisp

For the dressing:
1 heaped dessert spoon of low fat mayonnaise
1  tsp of tomato ketchup
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp of chopped sweet pickle
1/2 tsp of finely grated onion
pinch of salt and black pepper

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Lay one slice of bread onto each of two plates.  Top each with 1 slice of ham.  Top the ham with the cheese.  Top the cheese with the turkey.  Divide the lettuce between the two and drizzle each with half of the dressing.  Top each with half of  the sliced egg, sliced tomato and two slices of bacon criss crossed.  Serve immediately.  Pass the knives and forks!

There is one flavour combination that isn't totally embraced over here in the UK, that of Peanut Butter and Jam.  The Toddster says it is about as appealing as eating fish and custard together . . .  but then I remind him that parsley sauce is a bit like custard . . . just not sweet.  He begs to differ.



He will eat a jam sandwich.  He will eat a peanut butter sandwich.  He will not eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich.  I, on the other hand . . . think that peanut butter and jam or jelly are a taste marriage made in heaven.



How can you resist that combination of salty peanuts . . . pulverized to a thick unctuous cream  . . .  and sweet, sticky and fruity jam????   The two together are absolutely perfect!  Like pancakes and maple syrup . . . bacon and brown sugar . . .  peas and carrots . . .  mango and chillies . . . they just belong together!



This beautiful cake showcases that marriage beautifully.  You have amoist,  delicious and buttery cake base, which is slathered with softened jam . . . prior to baking . . .  I used Raspberry and Scottish Whiskey  jam . . .


The jam layer  is covered with tasty sweet clumps of peanut butter/flour/sugar and chopped peanuts all rubbed together.   Again, prior to baking . . . the magic happens in the oven . . .



A delicious magic that you can smell as the warm smells of buttery cake, salty peanut butter and sweet jam waft through the house as the cake is baking.   You just know this is going to be fabulous.  And then . . .



A final layer of a sweet peanut butter drizzle icing seals the deal on the cooling cake . . . drizzled here and drizzled there . . . making it even more impossible to resist. Why even try?   Go on . . . dig in.  You know you really want to.   Tradition be damned.  Throw caution to the wind you Brits!  Embrace Peanut Butter and Jam.   Isn't it time?  (As I write this you-know-who is out in the garden sitting in the sunshine snuffling down a nice big slice.  Me thinks he doth protest too much!)



*Glazed Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake*

Enjoy a long weekend Easter lunch with Newman's Own, The English Provender Co. and Very Lazy!

Cook up a feast for friends and family this Easter with a range of recipe ideas from Newman's Own, The English Provender Co. and Very Lazy.  Pick our your favourite dish or try the whole menu for a seasonal Easter Feast to kick off Spring in style.



The fresh French-inspired fig and goat's cheese salad using Newman's Own Light French Dressing is perfect to start!



Divide all of the salad ingredients between two plates, layering the different components and finishing with the almonds.  Drizzle with the dressing and serve immediately.  



The fillet of Lamb served with a Very Lazy Chilli salsa is a great twist on the traditional dinner.



To serve, divide the couscous between six plates, and top with a few slices of lamb on each, along with the yoghurt sauce and salsa drizzled over top.    



Finish off your meal with this beautiful piece de resistance from The English Provender Co, a delicious sweet St Clement's Cake using their Luxury Lemon Curd.  

  

Peel the paper from the sponges.  Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the top of each sponge, right up to the edges.   Drop two TBS of the lemon curd over top of each and using a skewer or teaspoon, pull it through the cream cheese mixture to swirl.   Sandwich the cakes together and lift onto a serving plate.

 

There are a lot of recipes floating around the internet called ham and cheese sliders, each one looking more delicious than the last.  You probably know the ones that I am talking about.   White buns stuffed with ham and cheese, drenched in a butter sauce, with poppy seeds on top . . . very delicious looking indeed.   I confess I have never tried them, but they do look quite tasty.  

  

The other day I started thinking about how tasty a recipe long the same lines done up as per a reuben sandwich would be and my wheels started turning . . . 

  

I love reuben sandwiches . . . all that smoked meat and sauerkraut . . . cheese . . . thousand island dressing.  So good.  I think it was in Winnipeg that I had my first one.   I love rye bread also, but that is not something that we can get readily here, at least not of the right kind.  

  

I created my own thousand island dressing/sauce, and layered it with pastrami, and swiss cheese . . . and sauerkraut . . . between soft white buns . . . 

  

Then I took the same idea as the ham sliders and created a butter sauce, using similar ingredients, except swapping out the poppy seeds for caraway seeds . . . which I felt went really well with the other ingredients.  I also had some of that Paul Newman Hot Dog Sauce which went into the butter sauce too . . . which lent a bit of smokiness and some of that sharp heat you get from a nice hot mustard.  


    

All in all I would say these were a HUGE success.  We both enjoyed them very much and I would make them again.  I only made a half recipe because, there are only two of us and we can only eat so much, but in all truth I was thinking later on, I should have made the whole shebang!  Oh, I do so hope you will try these and that when you do you will love them as much as we did!!  I will be making these again!!




 *Reuben Sliders*