For a buffet lunch open sandwiches are ideal. They look fresh and pretty. For open sandwiches you start with a base of thinly sliced rye bread (buy it in packets at a delicatessen). Rye bread has a close texture and will take the weight of the toppings, or you can use a firm textured brown bread. Then the ingredients are interestingly arranged so that the bread base is hardly visible. Meat should be very thinly sliced so it can be arranged in folds to give the sandwich height, and on each open sandwich a suitable garnish is added to give colour. They are quite easy to make if you avoid making too many kinds; just four to six varieties will make a handsome display at a buffet. Allow two or three per person and remember guests will need a knife and fork for eating them.
Decide what you are going to use as toppings and assemble all the ingredients before you start. They can be made in advance and will keep quite fresh for a few hours if covered with cling film and left in a cool place. Open sandwiches look pretty displayed on a large old-fashioned ashets or you can unroll kitchen foil down the centre of a buffet table and set them out on that.
Start by spreading bread slices to the edge with butter. Leave crusts on brown bread slices. Cut large bread slices in half; small slices of Hovis bread are a good size. Place a crisp lettuce leaf on
the base and add a topping chosen from any of the following:
Thinly sliced ham in folds, topped with a spoonful of potato salad and a garnish of a cucumber twist.
A sliced hard-boiled egg (use an egg slicer) arranged to cover the base, topped with a slice of tomato and a spoonful of mayonnaise garnished with black lumpfish caviar.
Thin fillets of smoked trout or smoked mackerel lifted off the bone and arranged across the lettuce base. Top with soured cream horseradish sauce and a lemon twist.
Thin slices of smoked salmon in folds topped with a strip of cold scrambled egg (let cooked eggs cool under a light weight so they flatten) and a sprinkling of snipped salad cress and a lemon twist.
Prawns arranged in neat rows on the lettuce, topped with a spoonful of mayonnaise and garnished with a lemon twist and sprig of parsley.
Overlapping thin slices of Danish blue or Mycelia cheese topped with seeded black grapes.