2 Simple Canapés for Afternoon Tea

Here are two easy-to-make canapés for your next afternoon tea or garden party. Because they aren’t topped with a second piece of bread, they make a colorful alternative to typical tea sandwiches.

The first canapé is cucumber with pickled radish, and the second is smoked salmon on rye with dill, but they both use cream cheese as a base, which makes it easier on the chef.

By freezing the bread before assembling these open-faced sandwiches, you can slide the cream cheese on evenly without tearing the bread. I don’t recommend refrigerating the bread, though, as this can dry it out.

What do you like to serve for your savory course for afternoon tea?

Cucumber with Pickled Radish Canapés

1/2 English or hot house cucumber, very thinly sliced

Coarse salt

8 slices soft (but good) white bread, frozen and separated

4-6 ounces cream cheese

Pickled radishes (recipe follows)

4-5 chives

Place cucumber slices on a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Place frozen bread on a cutting board, and cover each slice evenly with a tablespoon of cream cheese. Using a very sharp knife, slice off crusts of bread, cleaning the knife after each cut. Cut each piece of bread in half lengthwise.

Arrange cucumbers and radishes on each piece of bread in an alternating pattern. Snip chives with kitchen shears and garnish the canapés. Serve immediately, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to several hours (best to leave off the chives until ready to serve so they don’t stick to the plastic wrap).

Pickled Radish Slices

To maximize the color pink on these babies, you’ll want to start pickling them the night before you serve them. You’ll also want to keep the liquid to radish ratio to a minimum so that the color doesn’t have to spread out so far. I use a zip top bag to help with this, but you can also use a small glass jar.

Bunch of red radishes, very thinly sliced

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup mild tasting vinegar (apple cider, unseasoned rice vinegar, etc.)

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

2-3 teaspoons sugar

Arrange the radish slices in either a small zip top plastic bag or a small jar. Mix the remaining ingredients in a liquid measuring cup, and pour over just enough of the mixture to just cover the radish slices. Save any remaining liquid for another use.

Place the bag or jar of radishes in the refrigerator to steep overnight. Anytime you open the refrigerator and remember, squish the bag around or agitate the jar to get the color from the radish skins to permeate the whites of the radishes.

Smoked Salmon Canapés with Dill on Rye

For these, I use the Honey Smoked Salmon that I can find at Costco, and the thinly sliced rye bread from the bread section of the grocery store.

8 slices of thinly sliced rye bread

4-6 ounces of softened cream cheese

3-4 tablespoons small pickled capers

8-10 ounces smoked salmon

Fresh dill

Toast the bread, and while still warm, cut off the crusts. Cut each slice of rye on the diagonal. Spread with a tablespoon or so of cream cheese. Press several capers into the cream cheese (so they don’t roll around), and top with about 1/2-ounce to an ounce of salmon. Garnish with dill fronds.