The sandwich star is a delicious Christmas and/or New Year’s appetizer that is no-bake, spectacular and very tasty. If you don’t know what to prepare for the holiday season but still want to impress all your guests without much hassle, this sandwich star is perfect. You can make it in just a few minutes without cooking anything and you can choose your preferred filling. I used smoked salmon, tuna, and olives. It will literally disappear! Here is how to make the star with the stuffed sandwiches; it’s really simple!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 48 sandwiches
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter
Ingredients
- 28 oz sandwich bread (square, crustless)
- 1.25 cups cream cheese
- 5.25 oz olive pâté
- 3.5 oz smoked salmon
- 3.5 oz tuna in oil (drained weight)
- 1 lemon zest (grated)
- to taste chives
- to taste black pepper
Steps
● The sandwich star is very simple and quick to prepare. First, prepare the filling. Divide the cream cheese into two small bowls. In one, add black pepper, chives, and smoked salmon; in the other, black pepper, grated lemon zest, and drained tuna. Mix well with a fork.
● Take a slice of sandwich bread (use the square one, not the rectangular, for better results and to avoid waste) and fill it with a little tuna cream. Cover with another slice of bread. Cut the slice in half, diagonally, and then in half again, always diagonally, to get 4 triangles.
● Also fill the bread with the smoked salmon filling and the olive pâté, and proceed as before until all the ingredients are used up. In total, you will get 48 filled sandwiches.
● Now we are ready to assemble our sandwich star, which will be made up of 3 equal layers. Once the first is made, it will be very simple to finish it.
● Arrange 8 sandwiches to form a square as shown in the photo. With another 8 sandwiches, create the “points” of the star. Place two sandwiches on each side of the square to get a shape similar to an upside-down “V” (look at the photo for a better understanding; it is easier to do than to say).
● Here our star has taken shape, make two more layers in the same way. The sandwich star is ready; you can serve it immediately, but I recommend letting it rest for at least 30 minutes. If you serve it within a few hours and it’s not too hot inside, you can keep it at room temperature. If you make it the day before for the next day or in the morning for the evening, put it in the fridge and cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
Notes:
The sandwich star can be kept in the fridge for 1-2 days, depending on the filling you use. If you use smoked salmon, it’s best to consume the sandwiches within 24 hours. If you want to use the classic rectangular sandwich bread, cut it to get two squares from each slice and proceed as per the recipe. You can also use classic slices of bread and decide whether to remove or keep the crust. You can decorate the star as you prefer, adding mayonnaise or other sauces, salad, cherry tomatoes, olives, salmon, etc. I preferred to keep it simple.
Other Christmas appetizer recipes HERE
