DIY Smorrebrod or for us Canadians Open Faced Sandwiches

I stand and stare into the hollows of my pantry, searching for a sign, a clue, something to give me inspiration. I have done this to myself.  It is 100% my fault!  And if I’m going to be honest my “hollows” are not even hollow they just feel that way as I stare blankly at all the possibilities sitting nicely on the shelves.  I have always cooked great meals for my family during the week (if I do say so myself) but since this historic crazed pandemic happened, I have completely upped my meal making. We have only eaten take-out meals a few times in the last few months, where in the pre-covid times we ate out at least once or twice a week.  Now, I stare and wonder how the heck can I beat last night’s meal of Beef Bourguignon with roasted fingerling potatoes and the shrimp and crab pasta from the previous night.  I stare for a few more minutes and then walk away hoping that some brilliant idea will come to me, if I just stop thinking about it for a moment.  Oh, and I have a mentioned that between homeschooling, trying to work and really being over making meals I need an easy peasy awesome meal to make. 

As I sit at the kitchen table with my hands in my overgrown covid19 mess of hair trying to come up with a brilliant idea my husband saunters into the kitchen and announces that he wants to make some focaccia.  Bam, the light bulb goes off!  I jump up and start pulling out the ingredients for him.  He looks at me like I’m a bit nuts, because I seem a little overly excited about this focaccia, which honestly, I am, because 1) who doesn’t love focaccia and 2) I now know what we are having for dinner.  Not only is bread making fun and easy, and incredibly satisfying it will make our dinner amazing.  

Most breads have only a few ingredients, and focaccia isn’t an exception to that, so after making the dough in less than a half hour, we cover it and let it do its thing.  The waiting is the hardest part.  

While the dough is rising, I start pulling out the ingredients for our dinner.  I pull out cucumber, onion, salami and prosciutto.  And I hit pay dirt as I’m pulling out these items from my fridge.  I had taken out some smoked salmon from the freezer in the morning thinking it would be a nice treat for breakfast the next day, but that plan has now changed.  We are having Danish Smorrebrod for dinner, aka open faced sandwiches!  I have done this before, it is super easy, super yummy and with little work from me there will be a buffet of options for the family to make the best DIY dinner.

Smorrebrod come in all shapes and flavours, but the cool thing about them is you can use whatever you have on hand or you can go nuts and make some different toppings, it’s totally up to you.  But for me, I’m having a lazy cooking day but need to feed my three food critics a tasty meal. I know I have some cream cheese, mayo, grain mustard and some balsamic glaze (which let’s be honest – it makes everything taste fancy and amazing).  I have arugula, and I will slice the cucumber and onion super thin, I cut some fresh chives that are growing in my backyard slicing them into tiny pieces.  I will put the salmon on a plate, and on another the salami and prosciutto.  I have a few types of cheese in my fridge as well, so I will put that out. I also have a total added bonus of some stuffed mushroom caps that Aunty Wendy made and dropped off today! For the bread we will use the fresh focaccia and I have a pack of sunflower seed rye bread in my pantry.  Boom, easy peasy yummy dinner! 

In the past I have made curried chicken salad, tuna salad or egg salad for toppings and I have used all types of bread from packaged white bread, to wasa bread.  Not only are these sandwiches yummy and the DIY option makes it fun for the family to make their own creations it is a fabulous way to use up leftovers in your fridge.  Just like making your own pizzas, anytime you add a DIY to a meal it’s a fun way to spend time around a table chatting with your friends and family.  The meal takes longer giving us time to chat and spend time together, and we get to all share our combo ideas with each other.  

I would suggest Smorrebrod to everyone, you can do it DIY or you can be fancy and make trays of different types, it is totally up to how you want to do it and what you want to put on them.  Freedom reigns with these sandwiches.  They are great for dinner, brunch, celebrations, on hot summer days when you don't want to cook or covid19 I can’t cook another meal meals! 

I hope this inspires you all to create and bring joy around your table.  Meals are a wonderful way of connecting to your family and friends.  

Bon Appetit, and now go Mangia!!!