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Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches

Source of Recipe

From "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten


Recipe Introduction

"Tea sandwiches are wonderful for a cocktail party or an afternoon tea. They can be made a day ahead and kept refrigerated, covered with damp paper towels and wrapped in plastic to keep them moist. We often make platters with several types of tea sandwiches, but these are always the first to go."

List of Ingredients

Herb Butter:
â—¦ ½ pound unsalted butter, room temperature
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
â—¦ 1 tablespoon minced scallions (white and green parts)
â—¦ 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
â—¦ 1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
â—¦ 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
â—¦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sandwiches:
â—¦ 1 loaf dense 7-grain or health bread, unsliced
â—¦ 8 slices smoked salmon


Recipe

For the herb butter, combine all the butter ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until mixed, but do not whip.

For the sandwiches, have the store slice the bread lengthwise on a meat slicer into ¼-inch-thick slices. (If that isn't possible, you can slice it crosswise with a very sharp knife.)

Lay out 8 slices of bread and spread them all with a thin layer of herb butter. Place smoked salmon on 4 of the slices. Top with the other 4 slices of bread, butter side down. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate until the butter is very cold. Place the sandwiches on a cutting board. With a very sharp knife, cut off the crusts, cut each large sandwich in half crosswise, and then cut each half diagonally to make a total of 8 small triangles. (If the bread was cut crosswise, follow the assembly directions, then cut off the crusts and cut diagonally, twice, to make 4 small triangles.) Serve chilled.

Makes 32 sandwiches;
Serves 8 to 10