I need suggestions for finger sandwiches: fillings: not bread, etc.?

Question

This is a spring event so I would like yummy and healthy seasonal fillings. My personal favorite is cream cheese with red currant/jalapeno chutney.

Also, what suggestions do you have for an alternative for bread and/or not letting the bread get stale. What about ways to not waste bread. I was thinking about baking different kinds ont he cutsey little shaped tubes but a bread baker I am not!

It is a 4 hour event and the trays will be passed and replenished but I have to assemble most everything prior to arriving at the location of the event due to space limitations.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Answer 1

You've got a chore on your hands. I'll take your question in parts here. First, one person mentioned a chicken filling that was ground. You can do that with minced onions and minced celery but instead of mayonnaise, use chicken broth to keep it moist. Then, before putting any filling in your sandwiches, butter the bread or use cream cheese on it - to keep the fillings from making the bread soggy. Then, take a strip of aluminum foil, line it with paper towels you've made damp and wrung out. Place your sandwiches on the paper towels, wrap the paper towels and foil around the sandwiches. Refrigerate until you need to use them. They will stay "fresh" until you are to serve them. Just keep the paper towels moist.

You can cut your bread into whatever shapes you would like. I recommend you do that before you try to fill them. You can have a bakery make colored bread for you so you have another variation on the sandwiches.

A nice filling is cream cheese and nuts. Also, in a turkey sandwich (you can grind the turkey like you did the chicken but also grind nuts and some grapes for flavoring. You can use chicken broth with it also or mayonnaise). Anyway, with the turkey sandwich, mix together cranberry sauce and cream cheese and spread that on the bread before filling.

I've found women especially like thin sliced cucumbers that have been sprinkled with rice wine vinegar on bread spread with cream cheese. That is my mother's favorite.

You can serve open faced sandwiches as well, cut into triangles, diamonds, squares and rectangles. I had those in a restaurant called The Copenhagen Tea House in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. The 3 open-faced sandwiches they served on the plate were made from the following: First one was brown bread (crusts removed), lettuce, roast beef - thin sliced, cucumber and a swipe of mustard/harseradish across the top. The second was wheat bread, lettuce, ham slice - thin, an asparagus piece, cubed carrot and peas with a dab of mayonnaise on top. The third was white bread, lettuce, shrimp, a dollop of mayonnaise with 5 caviar eggs sprinkled on the mayonnaise.

If you cut off your crusts, you don't need to waste them. Put them in a zip lock bag and freeze for later use. Then pull them out, put them on a cookie sheet, bake them in the oven until crisp and then put them in the blender to make dry bread crumbs. You can also just put the frozen bread in a blender and make fresh bread crumbs. You can use both for meat loaf, meatballs or Salisbury steak. If you don't want to grind the crusts, you can use the pieces for dressing or bread pudding. So, no waste. Lots of uses.

My grandmother loved to entertain and when she had the bakery dye bread for her to the colors she wanted - like pink, green and yellow - she would have the bakery cut the bread into thin slices. She would remove the crusts, spread it with either butter or cream cheese, place some thin sliced deli meat on the bread, then a slice of cheddar cheese - thin sliced and roll the sandwich up. She would put toothpicks along the sandwich and cut the sandwich into wheels. The pattern on the spiral would be very nice depending on what you used for filling. She liked to use cream cheese because it made a nicer pattern with the meat and cheese. You can use white cheese or yellow.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Since you are concerned about wasting bread, ,why don't you try any of these instead of regular bread. They will all be good with the fillings on top.

Bruschetta
Being rubbed with garlic and drizzled with oil is one of the nicest things that can happen to sliced bread. Ideal for barbecues too!

La Focaccia Ligure
Focaccia is a flat, dimpled bread sprinkled with olive oil and salt.

La Piadina Romagnola
Is a flatbread that is tasty, and wonderful when spread with cheese, an excellent foil for cold cuts, and (when folded) perfect for containing all sorts of things, for example grilled sausages and onions.

Most of these can be found in either speciality markets or larger grocery stores. Hope this gives you some different idea for the bread.

As far as fillings go..there are already some good ones listed, and I am sure more to follow, so I thought I would just address the bread issue.

Answer 4

How abt little pimento cheese biscuits (heated) w. ham and a small dollop of chutney

Egg salad with watercress

Roll up asparagus on some crustless wholewheat bread spread with a lite mayo/blue cheese mixture

Buy some of those little tart cases (one bite) and fill with a salmon spread - top w. a sprig of dill.

Cut rounds out of bread w. a cookie cutter and top w. a slice of fresh mozarella, a cherry tomato half and drizzle with basil oil - pretty!

Cream cheese and cucumber on a cracker - then sprinkle with a little orange fish roe

Slice a cucumber to 1/2 inch. Use a melon baller to scoop out center. Fill with tuna tartar or crab salad

A couple of easy ones as pimento cheese - but do it in a wrap - roll up and chill wrapped in clingwrap then slice - will look like pinwheels - lay on spinach slices if you like. You can also make with smoked salmon and cream cheese.


Little blinis topped with sour cream and smoked salmon

And cover prepared sandwiches with damp (NOT WET) kitchen towlels or paper towels to stop from going stale - or place when made in airtight container

Answer 5

I like some of the bread ideas on here....maybe try pita bread...it can dry out a little (like normal bread) but because it is flat and dense, it is not very noticeable. Can also use pita chips with any of the proposed toppings that are spreadable (ie: cream cheese).
Obviously you want to try and assemble things as close to the serving time as possible...but, with time and space limitations that can be hard....how about trying hummus on some of your sandwiches/breads? Hummus is easy to make, delicious, can be done in multiple flavors, has no dairy in it, and is vegetarian. Plus, you can put it into a bag with a cute tip and pipe it right onto your bread....maybe place a piece of tomato or cucumber on top...and your ready!

Answer 6

one idea for a filling is smoked salmon cream cheese (you can add fresh herbs for a twist)

If you are woried about the bread going stale, you can slice baguettes into rounds, toss with olive oil, dried herbs (oregano,thyme),garlic powder and a little salt & pepper to taste. dry out in a warm oveb (250 degrees) until it the moisture is mostly gone. this gives you crustini. they hold up well for long periods of time. you could serve these with various tapas. bruschetta would go nicely with this. a caramelized onion & fig chutney would compliment the crustini. you could also use them as part of a fruit and cheese platter.

i hope these suggestions are helpful. good luck!

Answer 7

I saw a recipe today on the foodnetwork for a crab and cheese finger sandwich. Take lump crab meat and mix with mayo and shredded cheese. Place in between two slices of bread and grill in a pan with butter. The butter toasts the bread on the outside and the cheese melts the inside- so it's a combo of crispy and cheesy.

Answer 8

Go with some off the wall items. Or unusual combos that spark your interest.
Olive tapenade with some goat cheese.
Prosciutto with sun dried tomatoes,
Walnuts and brie or Blue cheese-Mix together first.
Figs and prosciutto.
Apples with honey glazed pork.
All of the above combos work on their own and would be wonderful with seasonal artisan breads. Try them seperately and get creative.

Answer 9

well for our party, we bought the crustless bread, and took, mayonaise, and boiled, seasoned chicken breast, and ran it through the forrd processor, and make a regular sandwhich then cut into triangles, and add a green olive on a toothpik on top! those are always great, and you can just pull them out of the fridge, but you can make the filling before hand, then make sandwhiches in a trya the night before, theyre good cold. hope this helps!