As I promised, dear friends, here’s something else you can keep yourself occupied with during the Coronavirus lockdown: how about trying out some nice and easy sandwich recipes? Don’t worry if you’re not very experienced at cooking; there’s not much cooking involved, in fact it’s mostly about putting things together in order to prepare a tasty breakfast, brunch, snack, lunch or supper. It’s easy, and it’s a lot of fun!
They tell us that now that most of us can’t go out on a daily basis, we should keep a sort of track of the days of the week – so I’ve put together here a 7-day ‘sandwich plan’, one for every day of the week, starting from cheap and simple egg and mayo (my personal favourite actually) for Monday to a somewhat more fancy prawn sandwich for Sunday. You’ll probably have many of the basic ingredients already at home, and you should be able to obtain the rest from your supermarket.
You’ll soon find out that sandwiches aren’t at all boring, especially when you change the recipe every day; and you don’t have to use the same sort of bread every time, either – besides sliced white or brown bread, you can do your sandwich with a hamburger bun, a hot dog bun, a baguette or a very healthy whole rye bread! And if you want to avoid eating too many carbs, you can use just one slice instead of two and do an ‘open’ sandwich.
Now here are the recipes; ingredients are always for two sandwiches. Most of them are made with good old-fashioned mayonnaise – if you want something with less fat, you can substitute it with low-fat yoghurt or sour cream.
Monday: Egg and mayo sandwich
4 slices bread, 4 eggs, 2 tsp mayonnaise, salt
Cook the eggs in boiling water for 5 minutes. Take out and cool down in cold water. Then peel the eggs and chop them into small bits on a plate. Add the mayonnaise and the salt, stir well with a spoon and fork, then put half of the mixture on one slice of bread and the other one on another one. Top the two sandwiches with another slice of bread each – ready!
Of course (and this goes for the other sandwiches as well), you can use your imagination and creative spirit and add any other ingredients you like to make it even tastier: in this case, for example, pepper, paprika, chopped onion, sliced tomato, lettuce…
Tuesday: Ham and cheese sandwich
4 slices bread, 4 slices ham, 2 slices cheese, 2 tsp mayonnaise (or butter or margarine), 1 tomato, 2 leaves lettuce
Another very popular, very cheap and very easy to do sandwich that’s open for countless variations! The basic recipe is: simply put mayonnaise, butter or margarine on two slices of bread, add the ham and the cheese, top it with slices of tomato and lettuce leaves and cover with the other two bread slices. Other favourite toppings are slices of cucumber, gherkin, pickled onion or even olives!
Wednesday: Tuna and sweetcorn sandwich
4 slices bread, 1 tin tuna (in brine or oil), ½ tin sweetcorn, 2 tsp mayonnaise, salt
Put the tuna, the sweetcorn and the mayonnaise on a plate, add salt, stir well with a spoon and fork, spread the mixture on two slices of bread and cover with the other two – simple as that! Maybe the easiest and quickest sandwich of them all, and even though I must confess I’m usually not much of a fish lover, let me assure you it’s extremely tasty…
Thursday: BLT sandwich
4 slices bread, 4 slices bacon, 2 leaves lettuce, 1 tomato, 2 tsp mayonnaise (or butter or margarine)
The good old bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich that we’ve all had countless times in coffee shops actually is quite easy to do at home as well; all you have to do is fry the bacon in a little olive oil. When it’s golden brown and crispy, take it out of the pan and put it on two slices of bread you’ve previously put mayonnaise, butter or margarine on, add the sliced tomato and the lettuce and top with the other bread slices!
Friday: Peanut butter and jam sandwich
4 slices bread, peanut butter, jam/jelly
My American friends will probably all be familiar with this classic US sandwich recipe (though that doesn’t mean you can EVER get too much of it!), but many of my fellow Brits might find it new and exciting – a wonderful contrast of sweet and savoury that you’ll soon get addicted to!
It’s extremely easy to do, too: spread a generous amount of peanut butter on two slices of bread, then add a thick layer of jam (the one most used is strawberry, but you can try any flavour you like) and top with another bread slice each (or, in order to really appreciate that special salt-sugar experience, have it as an open sandwich).
Oh, and a special tip I picked up recently while watching “Columbo”: the wonderful TV cop, while looking for something to eat in one of his suspects’ kitchens, found bread and peanut butter, but no jam – so he put raisins on his sandwich instead! I’m certainly going to try that as soon as I’ll get hold of a packet of raisins…
Saturday: Baked beans sandwich
4 slices bread, 1 tin baked beans, 2 leaves lettuce, 1 tomato
Here’s something all the kids love, but it’s just as nice to have as an adult! And here’s how to do it: slowly heat up the baked beans in a frying pan, place on two slices of bread, and top with tomato slices and lettuce. Or alternatively, use the tomato and the lettuce as a garnish to make the dish look nicer…
If you want to extend this to a really big breakfast or a substantial supper, you can also fry a couple of eggs, sausages and/or bacon slices to go with it!
Sunday: Prawn sandwich
4 slices bread, 200g cooked prawns/shrimps, 2 tsp mayonnaise, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt
Make Sunday special with a bit of seafood for breakfast! Simply mix the ready prawns with the mayonnaise, the lemon juice and the salt, distribute it on two bread slices and top with the other slices. You can, of course, add lettuce, tomato slices and/or cucumber slices to make your Sunday sandwich even tastier and healthier!
Enjoy your sandwich creations, dear friends, and keep staying healthy and indoors! Next time I’ll tell you about some of my favourite easy mixed drinks…
Roberta Franklin 