Smoked salmon sandwich spread

300 g smoked salmon
3 eggs, hard-boiled
2 tbs mayonnaise
4 tbs sour cream
Dill
Aromat or Accent (may be left out)

Chop the salmon very finely, e.g. in a food processor, but do not process into a paste – there should be tiny pieces of salmon in the spread. Mash the eggs with a fork and mix together the eggs, salmon, mayonnaise and sour cream. Add a little Aromat and dill. Chill and serve with crackers or slices of white baguette.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Tuna & egg

3 layers of bread (refer to the first sandwich loaf post for more information)

200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream
5 hard-boiled eggs
200 g canned tuna
1 medium onion
Aromat or Accent (may be left out or replaced with garlic powder)

Mix together mayo, cream and Aromat. Mash the eggs with a fork and drain the tuna well. Chop the onion very finely. Mix everything together and layer between the bread slices. Also put some spread on the ends and sides of the loaf and decorate with tuna, egg slices, and salad leaves.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Ham and egg

Decoration: Ham, canned peaches, tomato rose and cucumber strips.

For 3 layers of bread (refer to the first sandwich loaf post for more information)

150 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream
Aromat or Accent, to taste (may be left out)
Piquant seasoning
150 g thinly sliced ham
5 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 can green asparagus

Mix together mayo, cream and seasonings. Mash the eggs with a fork and chop the asparagus finely. Mix everything together. Put the spread between the layers of bread, spread mayo-sour cream evenly mixture over the loaf and cover with slices of ham. Garnish with, e.g. tomato roses, egg slices, cucumber, bell peppers, halved or quartered grapes, fresh parsley.

More decoration ideas:

Decoration: ham and red bell pepper.

A roll. Decoration: ham, red and green bell peppers.

A giant sandwich. Decoration: ham, canned peaches, red bell pepper strips, orange slices, asparagus and parsley.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Shrimp

A double-wide. Decorations: Shrimp, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, eggs.

Continuing from last'week's post:

4 layers of sandwich bread
300 g mayonnaise
200 g sour cream
300 g Arctic shrimp
1/2 red bell pepper
6 hard-boiled eggs
Aromat or Accent (may be left out or you can substitute garlic powder)
I also like to use a teensy amount of freshly ground black pepper in shrimp fillings

A giant. Decorations: Shrimp, orange and lime slices, cucumber and a forest of parsley.

Mix the mayonnaise and sour cream until smooth and well-blended. Thaw and drain the shrimps well. Finely chop the pepper, mash the eggs with a fork and mix everything together. Put the spread between the layers of bread. Smooth a thin layer of mayo-sour cream mixture evenly over the loaf and garnish with large shrimps, egg slices and vegetables, e.g. bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Salmon and egg

I had planned to post a sandwich loaf recipe much earlier, but since I rarely make them and when I do I don’t use a recipe, I had to find a set recipe first. I finally did find it, in fact several of them, which I will be posting in the following weeks.

Sandwich loaves, or ‘bread cakes’ as they are called in Iceland, are an enduring presence at Icelandic celebrations where cakes are served. While not an Icelandic invention (I think they may have originated in the USA), they have been popular here for at least 50 years and there seems to be no stopping them. While the fillings change according to fashion and whim and we don’t use half as much mayonnaise in them as once was the case they continue to be a vehicle for cooks to display their talents with garnish, and a savoury palate cleanser in between nibbles of all the sweet cakes usually served at traditional birthday parties.

They are generally made from white bread, and you can buy the bread pre-cut for the purpose.

There are two kinds of sandwich cake bread available. One is basically a pan-baked loaf of white sandwich bread that has been sliced lengthwise, like this (for a bit of a laugh at the expense of yesterday’s cookbook authors, keep clicking the “next” button until you get to the end of the pictures).

The crusts are removed, leaving between 4 and 6 long slices of bread.

The other kind are rolls. These are big, thin slices of bread that look like the cake layer of a jelly roll before it's rolled up. They can either be rolled up or layered to make large sandwich cakes. In a pinch, the other kind can be used instead, but care is then needed when rolling them up.

These cakes can be made using any sandwich filling or anything you will find as a topping for Danish smörrebröd, but certain fillings are more common than others.

The most common are:
Ham and asparagus
Ham and egg
Shrimp salad (shrimp, egg, ham or shrimp, ham and pineapple)
Roast beef (roast beef with French-fried onions, remoulade sauce, and either sliced pickled cucumber or slices of canned peaches or apricots)
Tuna spread (tuna and egg and sometimes either chopped onion or sweet corn)
Salmon and egg

Traditionally, the fillings are held together with mayonnaise, and here arises a problem: Commercially made Icelandic mayonnaise is like no-other kind I have tried. It is not only thicker, but it is not as vinegary-tasting. I have on several occasions tried to make these kinds of fillings (in small portions suitable for sandwiches) with imported mayonnaise, but the only time it has worked out was when making tuna spread, and then only because I not only drained the tuna thoroughly, but I actually squeezed out all the juice before making the spread. Still, the flavour wasn’t as good. When I tried making shrimp salad with Hellman’s mayonnaise, the mayonnaise turned soupy and ruined the salad.

These days, a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream is generally used, and sometimes the mayonnaise is dispersed with and cream cheese is used instead.

I never, ever use a recipe myself, but when you have never made one of these before a recipe is a good starting point. I rarely get the opportunity to make sandwich loaves, but I plan to take photos whenever I get the chance and will add them to show how these creations can be decorated. This and the other sandwich loaf posts are therefore going to become rerun posts, so if you leave comments, I will append your comments to the bottom of the appropriate post whenever I refresh it and bring it back to the top because Blogger erases the comments when you repost a blog entry with a new date.

And now for today's featured sandwich loaf:

Salmon & egg sandwich loaf
This is a delicious variation on the traditional salmon and egg salad loaf. A traditional loaf includes mashed hard-boiled eggs, but this uses scrambled eggs instead.

3 layers of sandwich bread

Salmon spread:
300 g smoked salmon, thinly sliced
5 eggs, hard-boiled
200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream

Keep back some extra slices of salmon

Chop the salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix well with the mayo and cream. Chill.

Scrambled eggs with salmon:
4 eggs
3 tbs cream
100 g smoked salmon
Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly whip together the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper. Purée the salmon in a food processor and add to the egg mixture, stirring lightly together. Fry the scrambled eggs until well done and set aside to cool.

Put 1/3 of the salmon spread on the bottom layer of bread, top with the second bread layer, then the scrambled egg, then more bread and end with salmon spread. Smooth the remaining salmon spread on the ends and side of the loaf. Decorate with thin slices of salmon (or cover the whole thing with salmon slices) and garnish with vegetables, e.g. tomato roses, slivers of red bell pepper or cucumber. Egg slices are also suitable decoration.

Bibliophile’s shrimp sandwich

I'm bringing this to the top because I wanted to add a note about the best mayonnaise to use in the recipe.

While this is hardly Icelandic, I will say that Icelanders have a fondness for sandwiches filled with mayonnaise-based salads. Shrimp salad is one of the most popular. This is a healthier option that uses less mayonnaise.

2 slices of sandwich bread (I prefer whole-wheat, but French is just as tasty). When I intend to eat a sandwich like this while reading, I use pita bread.
1 small handful frozen arctic shrimp, thawed and drained
1 hard-boiled egg, sliced
1 slice sandwich ham (optional)
mayonnaise (see note)
pepper or fresh chives

Spread mayonnaise on each bread slice according to taste. Put ham slice (if using) on one bread slice and top with egg. Top egg slices with shrimp, grind some pepper over it or sprinkle it with finely chopped chives and close the sandwich.
OR
Finely chop the ham and mash the egg with a fork. Put into a bowl with shrimp and 2 tbs mayonnaise. Give it a grind of pepper and mix everything together and fill the sandwich. This method requires more mayonnaise than the other.


Variation:
2 slices of bread
1 handful of frozen arctic shrimp
2 slices of sandwich ham
1 pineapple ring, finely chopped or mashed, and drained
mayonnaise (see note)
garlic to taste

Same processing methods as above.

A note on mayonnaise:
The favourite brand of mayonnaise in Iceland is Gunnars Majónes, which is thick and creamy with a slightly sour flavour that reminds me of sour cream or yogurt. If the ingrdients in a salad or dip are well drained, it holds well together. I tried using Hellmann’s mayonnaise to make this shrimp salat and I do not recommend it. The mayonnaise becomes soupy and merely coats the ingredients rather than hold them together and the salad has an unpleasant, almost metallic, vinegary taste that does not go well with those ingredients. If you want to approximate the taste of Icelandic mayonnaise, try making it at home, make it thick, use oil with a mild flavour, use as little vinegar/lemon juice as possible, and add a bit of mustard.

Tuna spread - Túnfisksalat

This is a cheap and easy tuna spread that is good on bread and crackers, in sandwiches and sandwich cakes. For some reason, spreads like this are called “salads” in Icelandic.

Ingredients:
1 regular can tuna, well drained. I generally use tuna in brine or water, but tuna in oil can be used as well. The medium quality supermarket brands are suitable for this spread. When draining, cut off the lid of the can completely, hold it and upend the can to let most of the juice run off, then press the lid into the can to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. If you don’t, the spread will be soggy.

3-4 tbs mayonnaise, or more if you love the taste of it. I prefer to just use it as a binding agent rather than have the other ingredients swimming in it. Some of the mayo can be replaced with sour cream for a fresher taste – especially good if you use chives instead of onion.

1 hardboiled egg, chopped. I either put it twice through an egg slicer, once lengthwise and once crosswise, or if I’m not making the spread for company I simply dump the egg into the spread and mash it in with a fork. It doesn’t look as good, but the taste is the same.

1/4 to 1/2 onion, finely chopped. Chives or shallots may be used instead.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder (or fresh, minced garlic if you have it on hand), all to taste

Mix all ingredients well together and adjust taste with salt and spices. Serve with crackers, saltines or bread. I sometimes use this as a filing for baked potatoes, but then I leave out the egg.

You can also make the spread without the egg and serve it with slices of egg on the side.

Alternative version:

Tuna, as above
Mayonnaise, as above
1/2 can of sweet corn, well drained
Salt, to taste

Mix and enjoy as above. The tuna may be replaced with finely chopped cooked chicken.

Icelandic roast beef sandwich – Roast beef samloka

I’m feeling a little uninventive today, so I am going to post a recipe for a good sandwich I sometimes buy or make: roast beef.

For 1 sandwich, take 2 slices of bread (white or whole-wheat), put one slice aside and top the other with 2-3 slices of cold roast beef. Smear some remoulade (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see recipe) on top of the roast beef, add 4-5 slices of pickled cucumber/gherkin OR a couple of slices of canned apricots, and about 2 tsp of French fried onions. Top with the other slice of bread and enjoy.

I like this sandwich best when it’s newly made and the onions are still crunchy, but it is quite good even when they have gone soft.

The version with the pickled cucumber is widely available wherever sandwiches are sold in supermarkets and highway diners in Iceland.