The bridal shower was held on Sunday at two in the afternoon. Most people had already had lunch and so, we thought a few little tea-size sandwiches would be perfect fare for the party. We chose these 4 Little Sandwiches perfect for a lovely bridal shower.
Emily, the bride-to-be, is not fond of deli meats or fresh vegetables. She likes her vegetables cooked. We needed to have something that appealed to her taste. Then I remembered, that she does like the little Pizza Appetizers we have at Christmas each year. They may not be normal fare for afternoon tea but who cares? You can click above or here for the recipe. ►Pizza Appetizers or click on the picture.
These may not all be technically what you would call sandwiches but whatever they are called, they were perfect for this little get-together!
Open-Faced Sandwich #1
Pizza Appetizers
These appetizers can be made days or weeks in advance and frozen. I freeze them on a cookie sheet pan and transfer them to Ziploc freezer bags. The gallon size will accommodate 4 rows of 4, sixteen in total. Just remove them from the freezer bag, place them on a sheet pan, and immediately broil for 2 – 3 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned, and serve.
Displayed on a bed of greens, these look really tempting.
Tea Sandwich #2
We made tarragon chicken salad sandwiches for the party. I’ve made these before and love the unique flavor of the chicken infused with tarragon. The lemon and zest give it a nice subtle tang, too.
Tarragon Chicken Salad
- 8 raw chicken tenders
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 Tblsp. tarragon vinegar
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
- 1 Tblsp. chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 Tblsp. minced shallot
- Bibb lettuce
In a large skillet, place the chicken tenders, quartered onion, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Don’t overcook. The chicken will be dry.
Remove the chicken from the water and chop it into small bite-size pieces. Transfer to a glass bowl and sprinkle with the tarragon vinegar. Allow the chicken to cool and then, pulse in a food processor 5 or 6 times. The chicken should still be a little chunky but at the same time easy to spread.
Mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, tarragon, and shallot in a bowl. Pour over the chicken and mix well. This can be made the night before and refrigerated. I think the flavors all blend together better overnight. (The chicken tenderloins I used were pretty big. You might not need as much mayonnaise. You can adjust if your tenderloins are smaller.)
Spread the chicken salad on one slice of bread. I used Pepperidge Farm bread for these. For the party, I used thin wheat bread. The regular white sandwich bread is shown in the picture. They were both good. The thin bread does make neat little tea sandwiches…
Top the chicken salad with a piece or two of leaf lettuce and the other buttered slice of bread.
Then, slice diagonally into four triangular pieces.
Serve immediately or place a damp paper towel on top of the sandwiches in an airtight container, or cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Open-Faced Sandwich #3
But the star of the show this time, interestingly, was the Roast Beef and Horseradish Cream on Toasted Baguette Slices. I can understand if you balk at making these because of the horseradish. Not a real big fan of horseradish myself. Let me tell you, try it anyway! These are tasty and every single one disappeared!
In fact, my daughter Tiffany and my friend Shannon were debating who would make these for our Christmas party! Lol!
Yes, they were all gone and without a doubt, these were the easiest little things to make! In the bakery department of our local grocery, they offer a bag of pre-sliced baguettes. You can slice your own but these make it even more simple!
Roast Beef and Horseradish Cream on Toasted Baguette Slices
- 1 bag of baguette slices or 1 baguette sliced
- 1/2 pound sliced roast beef
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 Tblsp. horseradish
- kosher salt
- pepper
- arugula
First, preheat the oven to 350°. Place the baguette slices on a sheet pan in one layer. Drizzle olive oil over the bread slices. Turn the slices over and drizzle olive oil on the backside. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Bake for a few minutes until the top is toasted, turn over, and bake until the back is toasted and crispy. It only takes a few minutes.
Mix the sour cream and horseradish together in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spread a small amount of the horseradish cream on each of the toasted baguette slices. *Cut a strip of roast beef, fold it, and place it on top of the horseradish cream. Top with a small piece of arugula.
*(My original plan was to make roses from the roast beef. You would have to slice the roast beef in thin strips to create these or they would be too bulky on the toasts.)
Sandwich #4
Emily also likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had a few children coming to the shower and I knew peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would be appreciated by them, too.
My plan was to make peanut butter and jelly roll-ups. Remember the Raspberry Jellyrolls? They were so pretty. The angel food cake is sliced thinly and rolled out thinner in that recipe.
I thought this could be done with the bread to make it easier to roll and hold its shape. In theory, that should work but the reality is that the bread rolled out thinly has the texture and taste of the raw dough. 😒
***Plan 2***
Two kinds of bread made these a little more interesting and cutting the wheat bread into bars and the white bread into triangles created variety. As simple as they are, they were a hit, too. Before I could get this picture, several had already been eaten!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches- Pepperidge Farm Thin Wheat Bread
- Pepperidge Farm White Bread
- Polaner All Fruit
- Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
(I don’t get any compensation from these brands. The Pepperidge Farm slices of bread hold up well for these types of sandwiches. In my humble opinion, the Polaner All Fruit spreads nicely and Jif is the best-tasting peanut butter.)
Simply spread one slice of bread with peanut butter and another with Polaner All Fruit. Place the peanut buttered slice on top of the All Fruit covered slice. Cut off the crusts and cut them into 3 bars or into 4 triangles.
I made these earlier in the day, put them in a Tupperware container with a damp paper towel on top, and refrigerated them until just before the party started.
The Results
The kids and the adults enjoyed these and I guess the presentation elevated the plain old peanut butter and jelly sandwich! There were very few of these little sandwiches left and Dave took those to snack on while he was fishing.
So, there it is. You might want to try one or more of these for your next little get-together!
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