These sandwiches are equally delicious without the cold cuts. Instead of meat, use additional vegetables, such as canned asparagus spears, pickled beet slices, and cut marinated artichoke hearts. Plan plenty of time when you arrange these sandwiches so that each one will be attractive.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb. cold cuts (salami, bologna, ham, or Thuringer)
1/2 lb. cheese (Swiss, cheddar, Muenster, or Colby), sliced
2 hard-cooked eggs, shelled and sliced into thin rounds*
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
1 medium tomato, sliced, or 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, sliced
baby pickles (dill or gherkin)
pimento-stuffed olives
lettuce or leaf spinach
6 to 8 slices rye bread
butter or margarine
*To hard-cook eggs, place in saucepan and cover with cold water to 1 inch above eggs. Cook over medium-high heat, uncovered, until boiling. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 18 minutes. Drain off hot water and cover eggs with cold water. Tap eggs to crack shells, then chill until ready to use.
METHOD:
1. Bring cold cuts, cheese, eggs, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, olives, and lettuce to room temperature, so that ingredients will taste their best when sandwiches are served.
2. Spread bread lightly with butter, making sure to get it to the very edge. Cover butter with leaf of lettuce.
3. Make a different arrangement of meat, cheese, egg slices, vegetables, and garnishes on each slice of bread. On one sandwich you might start with a slice of cheese, and then arrange a cold cut or two atop the cheese, shaping the cold cut into a cornucopia or folding it into a triangle. Another sandwich could have the cold cut laid flat as the base of the sandwich, with alternating pieces of cheese and egg slices diagonally across the meat. Garnish each sandwich attractively with your choice of onion, tomato, cucumber, pickles, and/or olives.
4. These sandwiches are eaten with knife and fork.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 4 to 6
