Ode to Open Sandwiches

Open sandwiches, or canapés, are very big part of modern Ukrainian cuisine. There are two types of open sandwiches over there: basic ones and festive ones.

The basic ones are very simple - they are breakfast canapés (or kanapky, as we say in the western part of Ukraine, where I came from) or a snack open sandwiches.

The very basic ones which I remember from my childhood:

slice of bread + butter or mayo + sliced sausage or bologna;

slice of bread + rendered and chilled pork lard (in Ukraine it is called smalets) + chopped onion;

slice of bread + butter or mayo + sliced cucumber or tomato or radish.

Fresh finely chopped dill, or parsley, or green onion, or chives on the top of Ukrainian open sandwiches is also very common.

Here are some samples of basic Ukrainian open sandwiches I make regularly here, in Canada.

This one is my breakfast one, along with my black coffee - slice of bread with cream cheese, instead of butter, slice of ham, tomatoes slices and my home grown fresh parsley:

Here is my snack open sandwich, Ukrainian style - slice of bread, butter, sliced home grown radishes and fresh chopped dill:

And these are our after-Easter open sandwiches - slices of Paska raisin bread, ham and horseradish with beets:

So, those were just basic Ukrainian open sandwiches. Speaking of the festive ones, there are huge variety of them! They can be done on a regular bread base, or non-sweet French-toasted slices of bread, or non-sweet doughnut base, or even non-sweet éclair base. Actually, canapés are the most popular appetizer on modern Ukrainian festive table. I would say, they are must-be item among the appetizers. 

The most typical festive open sandwiches in Ukraine are:

slice of artisan bread + cottage cheese, butter and garlic mix + thin slice of smoked sausage, thin slice of cucumber or tomato (or slice of pickled cucumber), thin slice of hard boiled egg + finely chopped green onion or chives or dill;

thin slice of rye bread + butter + smoked sprat fish + thin slice of lemon (on the picture below).

As I said, those are two basic kinds, but they are very vary in each household, depend of fantasy and creativity of each home chef (in Ukraine, home cooks are mostly women). So, I would like to share with you some versions of festive open sandwiches I enjoyed in my family and friends homes in Ukraine.

Those on the picture below were very-very delish, made by my cousin's wife. Sliced wheat artisan bread with canned pork meat, mixed with chopped onion and also sprinkled with fresh green onion on top (Ukrainians consume just A LOT of onion - it is tasty and very healthy for you):

Note: open sandwiches with canned pork meat can be considered also as a basic lunch items in Ukraine. Canned pork meat is one of the staples of Ukrainian cuisine, especially for the winter time.

Next open sandwiches were served in summer house of our very close Ukrainian friends - as you can see, those are pretty basic of the festive ones (back to the description above), only instead of hard boiled eggs our friends put slices of cheese on it, well, let me name the ingredients - artisan bread, butter/cottage cheese/garlic mix, sliced smoked sausage, sliced tomatoes and cheese, finely chopped dill:

The canapés below are from another friend's house, a family version: instead of butter or butter/cottage cheese/garlic mix, they use a grated hard boiled eggs/mayo/garlic mix:

And finally, I would like to share with you my own versions of the festive open sandwiches, inspired by Ukrainian ones. Those I made for my family and friends here in Canada. 

Version 1

wheat artisan bread, mayo/garlic mix, canned sardines, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped green onion, fresh dill and grated cheddar cheese on top:

Versions 2 and 3

wheat artisan bread, cream cheese, sliced Ukrainian-styled smoked sausage, sliced Newfoundland pickled beets, pickled cucumbers, fresh parsley (the ones on the left);

rye artisan bread, butter, halved cherry tomatoes, smoked mussels, fresh parsley (the ones on the right):

Version 4

wheat artisan bread, cream cheese/butter/dill/parsley/garlic mix, slices of smoked salmon, chives on top:

So, this is my ode to Ukrainian open-faced sandwiches :) which I hadn't finished yet - I have much more versions of this the most popular Ukrainian appetizer to share with you. Those are just for the starters.

Enjoy! Or, like Ukrainians say, Smachnogo!