Wednesday, June 22, 2011

avocado-egg-radish tartines

I don't usually do dainty food. I tend to make semi-messy salads, rustic desserts, platters of things people can really dig into. Tiny canapes just aren't my style. But somehow the other weekend, I found myself fussing over open-faced sandwiches on little squares of pumpernickel. (Maybe I was subconsciously thinking of the tiny baby who would be joining us for lunch? Not that she can eat sandwiches.)
I wanted to make sandwiches for my visiting friends, but the idea of serving multiple things on bread turned me off. I didn't want everyone to fall asleep post-lunch. And then I saw a loaf of cocktail-sized pumpernickel at the grocery store, and I started thinking about tiny, open-faced sandwiches that wouldn't carb everyone out.

So I picked up some radishes and an avocado and back home, made some hard-boiled eggs. Even though the avocado would add a nice creaminess, the tartines still needed a little something else to keep the bread from being too dry and pull all of the flavors together. Butter could work, but I went for a mix of Dijon mustard and mayonnaise.

The morning of the lunch, I sliced everything up (the eggs were a problem--anyone got any tips for evenly slicing hard-boiled eggs?) and layered the ingredients on top of the Dijonnaise-slicked bread. I filled up a small tray with sandwiches, figuring that everyone would have two at most. An hour later, the tray was empty. And at that point, I was too wrapped up in conversation and cute baby dimples to bother making more.

Avocado-egg-radish tartines
I don't think this really requires a recipe. Thinly slice an avocado, some radishes, and a few hard-boiled eggs. In a small bowl, mix up a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and three tablespoons of mayo. Cut up pieces of sandwich-sized bread into small squares (or use pre-cut cocktail sized bread) and toast it in the oven for five minutes, or until lightly toasted. Top with Dijonnaise and the other ingredients and add a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve!

3 comments:

Alyssa Steffes said...

These look great. There are little hard-boiled egg dicers that would work perfectly. I think people use them for salads but they thinly slice them just like you have here. I honestly don't know if I've ever tried a radish so this might be a project for me!

Alyssa Steffes- CoolProducts.com

Lisa said...

Alyssa: Yes, I thought about an egg slicer. My kitchen is so small I hate single-use gadgets but maybe it's time to invest in one.

Daniel said...

Finally, it's Slap-Chop time!

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