Picnic Sandwiches

Picnic sandwiches can be made in minutes so they are the ultimate fast food for eating outdoors.

Some can be made days in advance for the freezer, some the night before or on the day of the picnic and others are better assembled at the picnic site.

A picnic sandwich made with good, fresh bread and a generous amount of savoury filling can be as satisfying as a plated meal. And made with healthy ingredients, it can be good for you too.

The best sandwich recipes are made with really fresh bread, not too thickly sliced and buttered right out to the edges. The butter acts as a protective layer to stop the filling making the bread soggy.

The moment picnic sandwiches are made they should be wrapped up in foil or plastic wrap to keep them airtight and so fresh and moist.

If you are not setting out immediately, pop them, wrapped, in the fridge. Some can even be made the night before if you do this.

Savoury butter:

If there are no exciting fillings in your fridge for your sandwich ideas, try mixing the following ingredients to make a tasty butter, which will add a little bite to an otherwise rather dull sandwich:

half a cup of butter
half a teaspoon of dry mustard powder
half a teaspoon of grated onion
a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh parsley (or half of dried flakes)
a pinch of paprika or ground black pepper

"Only the generous can make a sandwich worth eating" - Nigel Slater

Days/weeks in advance:

Choose your sandwich fillings according to how long they have to remain uneaten.

If you want to be organised for a large picnic, then you can freeze picnic sandwiches for up to two months. They should be well sealed in freezer bags, boxes or foil.

Frozen sandwiches are best kept fairly plain however, using cheese, meat or fish, combined with cream cheese or softened butter to make a moist spread.

Find out here how the name "sandwich" came about.

The night before:

If you have to make your picnic sandwiches the night before, then you should avoid cucumber, sliced tomatoes, fruit, wet ham or very rare roast beef. You can just get away with salad leaves if they have been very well dried before you use them.

Here are some such sandwich ideas:

Chop some sliced cooked pork and a stalk or two of celery. Add some apple sauce or jelly, salt and pepper and a pinch of thyme if you have it.
Mix some chopped cooked chicken with a little mayo and even less sweet chutney plus a tiny bit of curry paste.
Chop some cooked ham and mix with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a little made mustard, salt and pepper and bind together with butter.

Pack each flavour of sandwich separately to avoid your banana and honey tasting of salmon or onion etc.

Spur of the moment:

Here are some more spur of the moment picnic sandwiches:

cottage cheese, ham and peach, bound with a tiny bit of mayo
mashed banana mixed with honey and chopped walnuts
cooked corned beef and grated Swiss cheese with a little Thousand Island dressing
mashed sardines with hard boiled egg and mayo
peanut butter with tomato chutney
sliced cold pork, turkey or chicken with sage and onion stuffing
sliced chicken, sliced cheese, sliced avocado and salsa

The best sandwich recipes are made minutes before you leave for your picnic and in fact the very best are put together at the picnic site itself. The fresher the better!

A cucumber sandwich must be eaten straight away. If you have only a short journey then you can still use cucumber but try and give yourself time to “drain” it first.

That means, peel at least 90% of the skin, chop it, put in a sieve, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain for at least an hour!

Try some of these fillings in this case:

tinned tuna and cucumber with mint mayo (mix a little mint sauce with mayo)
cream cheese with chives, cucumber and crisp salad leaves
tinned salmon and cucumber
Grilled, marinated salmon with cucumber and watercress

Or maybe you'll find something you fancy among these fillings for picnic sandwiches:

Smoked chicken, avocado and mango chutney
Rare roast beef, caramelised onions and whole-grain mustard
Grilled bacon, feta cheese and cranberry sauce
Cream cheese, roasted peppers and smashed black olives
Grilled bacon and mashed avocado (mixed with a splash of lemon juice to stop it going black)
Mashed hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise, salted anchovies and watercress (don't add any more salt!)
Brie and sunblushed tomatoes in oil, drained
Brie and mango chutney
Blue cheese and crispy bacon
Gruyère cheese topped with onion or garlic jam
Slices of country pâté or roast pork with finely chopped cornichons and mustard mayonnaise
Smoked salmon, cream cheese and black pepper
Smoked salmon, bean sprouts, chopped fresh dill and thick crème fraiche or sour cream
Marmite (kids love them. OK, some adults too!) Hint: if you're making a lot, mix the Marmite with soft butter first, according to taste. Then it takes half the time to spread.

Peanut butter is another quick and easy sandwich filler for kids - BUT make sure you know that nobody present is allergic to nuts. (These days 1% of children in the UK are allergic to nuts and peanuts in particular.)