Having now made excellent cold smoked lox (see the Food Nirvana recipe for making lox under Seafood) I am collecting and assembling information about the variety of sandwiches one might make to most enjoy the lox. The picture shown on the right is one very fine example, with toast, cream cheese, chopped chives, cold smoked lox and thin slices of hard boiled egg. Yummy!

I am pleased that I found a good web site with most of the information below for any of us to use. I have somewhat modified and hopefully improved that content.

First, here is a partial list of different types of sandwich ingredients based on the basic type of food and the accompanying taste:

Creamy– Cream cheese, chèvre (aka goat cheese), avocado slices, Lemon Artichoke Dip, Simple White Bean Dip.

Crunchy– Toasted Bread or bagel, cucumber slices, red onion slices, radish slices and seeds used to enhance Bagels.

Sweet– Strawberry slices, pomegranate seeds, blueberries, blackberries and jellies or jams.

Salty– Lox, smoked salmon, bacon, capers, salt.

Savory– Arugula, micro-greens, chives, fresh dill, fresh herbs, hard boiled eggs or over easy eggs. Also, various grilled vegetables such as asparagus, eggplant and yellow squash.

Acidic– Tomatoes, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, olives

Typical Sandwich Ingredients:

First Breads- choose from the list below:

Plain or Seeded Bagels

Cracked Wheat Sourdough Bread *See Note #1 below

Various Ezekiel Breads (made without commmon wheat flour)

Soft White Bread

Then Cheese:

Cream cheese or favorite flavored cream cheese, See Note #2 below

Then Cold Smoked Salmon or Lox:

Lox or cold smoked salmon - See Note #3 below

Additional Toppings: (choose one or more toppings from the list below based on what you like)

1 or 2 ripe avocados, peeled & thinly sliced

8 oz of strawberries thinly sliced

1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds

1 small eggplant - See Note # 4 below

1 bunch of asparagus - See Note 5 Below

1 small container of chopped fresh chives

1 small english cucumber cut into coins

1 to 2 cups of arugula

1 or 2 tomatoes thinly sliced

1 small red onion thinly sliced

1 shallot very thinly sliced

1 cup of your favorite sprouts or micro greens

1/4 to 1/2 cup of capers, drained

2 to 4 over easy eggs or 2 to 4 hard boiled eggs sliced - See note #6 below

1 tbsp. of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions for making the sandwich:

Toast the bread or bagel.

Spread the bagel or bread with cream cheese and layer the cold smoked salmon or lox on the cheese.

Top the lower half of the bagel or the bread slice with your selection of the toppings from the above list.

Top the sandwich with the other half of the bagel or another slice of the bread.

Cut the sandwich in half and serve it on a small plate. Remember to serve a beverage.

Recipe Notes:

Note #1 - Plain bagels, seeded bagels, sourdough bread slices and sourdough baguettes are all good options. Additionally, soft sliced white bread, crusts removed, is best for making tea sandwiches.

Note #2 - About 2 ounces of plain or flavored cream cheese will be needed per person. Goat cheese (chèvre) may also be substituted.

Note #3 - About 1 or 2 ounces of smoked salmon or lox will be needed for each serving.

Note #4 - Slice eggplant into about 1/4 inch thick steak slices. Lay them on a cookie sheet and lightly salt them to remove extra water. Let them sit for about 15 mins. Dab them with a paper towel to absorb water. Turn the slices over and repeat the salting, sitting and dabbing. Spray both sides of the slices with a cooking spray and grill them over med/high heat for 4 to 5 mins per side.

Note #5 - For the asparagus, cut off the tough bottom portion. Lay the spears on a plate and drizzle them with canola oil. Lightly salt them. Grill them over med/high heat for approximately five mins, turning every min.

Note #6 - Place room temperature eggs in a small saucepan and cover them with cold water one inch above the eggs. Put the saucepan over high heat and bring the water to a rolling boil uncovered. Cover the saucepan and turn off heat. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 6-15 mins. The longer the time, the firmer the egg. I found 10 minutes to be perfect as the egg slices could be handled easily and the egg was moist and soft and not overcooked and rubbery. Once the time is done, drain the saucepan and pour cold water over the eggs to stop the cooking process. Place the eggs in the refrigerator until you are ready to peel them and slice them.