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Wellspent Market founder Jim Dixon has been writing about food and restaurants for Willamette Week for a long time. He wants our readers to eat well, and he shows them how with the recipes he creates just for us by using simple cooking techniques and easy-to-find ingredients.
English language writers almost always describe smørrebrød oxymoronically as an open-face sandwich. It is not a sandwich, which by definition requires bread on both sides of the filling. Smørrebrød translates literally to buttered bread, and the Danes top that lubricated slice—typically a thin, dark rye—with anything from a simple piece of pickled herring to a towering mound that might include cured meat, boiled potatoes, pickled and fresh vegetables and a few sprigs of dill. While sandwiches were created to make eating with the hands a little easier, smørrebrød requires a knife and fork.
More practically, smørrebrød makes it easy to build a meal from a smattering of leftovers and pantry items. Those last bits of a tasty meal too good to toss but not quite substantial enough to make a second filling meal can serve as layers of an elaborate smørrebrød. Just don’t try to pick it up.
Potato smørrebrød is a classic. It often includes bacon, but it’s just as good with only red onion and radishes. The mayo blend is optional but highly recommended. If you’re not growing dill it’s hard to get just the frilly tips that make the best smørrebrød topping, but fennel fronds or even arugula will work. I took the above photo at Cafe Rabes Have in Copenhagen, and while it looks great, you don’t need to make smørrebrød so extravagant for it to be be delicious.
Recipe
- Dark rye, thinly sliced
- Butter
- Mayonnaise
- Greek yogurt
- Yellow potato, boiled and sliced
- Bacon, cooked to your preferred level of crispy
- Red onion, thinly sliced
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Radishes, thinly sliced
- Fresh dill
Slather the bread generously with butter. Mix together roughly equal portions of the mayo and yogurt; spoon a little over the potatoes. Layer on the bacon, onion, tomatoes and radish and top with a few dill sprigs. Eat with a knife and fork.
