Recipes › Cucumber (Greenhouse) › Cucumber and Cream Cheese Open Rye Sandwiches with Radish and Chives
Cucumber and Cream Cheese Open Rye Sandwiches with Radish and Chives
A Scandinavian-style open sandwich that takes cucumber seriously. Thick slices are layered in real quantity over dense, seedy rye bread spread with lemon cream cheese, topped with sharp radish and a shower of chives. This is a proper weekday lunch or light breakfast that comes together in ten minutes and feels considerably more elegant than the effort involved.
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Ingredients
- 450 Cucumber (Greenhouse), sliced 4mm thick on the diagonal
- 4 dense seeded rye bread, thick slicesor sourdough if rye is unavailable
- 180 g full-fat cream cheese
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 15 g fresh chives, finely snipped
- 100 g radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- 1 pinch black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
Contains: milk, cereals gluten.
Method
- Mix the cream cheese in a bowl with the lemon zest, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, half the chives, and a pinch of black pepper. Beat with a fork until light and well combined. Taste and add more lemon juice if you want a sharper edge.About 3 min
- Spread the cream cheese generously and evenly across each slice of rye bread right to the edges.About 2 min
- Arrange the cucumber slices in overlapping rows across the cream cheese, covering the bread entirely. Use the full quantity — the cucumber is the point here, not a token layer.About 3 min
- Scatter the sliced radishes over the cucumber, then finish with the remaining chives, a pinch of flaky sea salt, a grind of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil if using.About 2 min
Tips
- Buy the densest rye bread you can find — the kind sold in sealed packets from the bread aisle rather than a sliced loaf. It holds up under the weight of the cucumber without becoming soggy.
- Slicing the cucumber on the diagonal gives you larger, more elegant slices that overlap nicely and cover the bread more efficiently.
- Make the cream cheese mixture up to a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge — it thickens overnight and spreads even better.
Ring the changes
- Add 4 or 5 thin slices of smoked salmon on top of the cucumber to turn this into a more substantial lunch — the combination with lemon cream cheese is excellent.
- Replace the chives with fresh dill for a more pronouncedly Scandinavian flavour.
Keeping it
Best assembled and eaten immediately. The cream cheese mixture will keep in the fridge for 2 days. Do not assemble the sandwiches in advance as the bread will go soggy.
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