Tartines are fancy French open-faced sandwiches. We’ve tackled this category on a couple French Fridays in the past with a marvelous Strawberry, Goat Cheese version as well as a Nutella dessert tartine. Bill is home for 4+ weeks to recuperate from surgery and already going stir crazy with his restricted activity. He was overly interested as I prepared our lunch…not always a good thing. I mentioned I was making two tartines; one a tartine norvégienne and the second a tartine Saint-Germain. Both were inspired from the bustling Parisian café, La Croix Rouge.
As expected, he grilled me on the details. One was made with smoked salmon and the other roast beef, I explained. I sliced a seedy, wheat roll and smeared it with butter, then layered on the thinly sliced Norwegian salmon that gave rise to its name. A sprinkling of capers, freshly ground black pepper plus lemon wedges accompanied my selection. Bill eyed me closely as I spread mayonnaise over his grilled sourdough, then stealthily attempted to add a layer of sliced cornichons followed by rare beef slices. I passed him his tartine, then out came the ketchup, on came the second slice of bread as a topper, and the pickles were removed. I’m certain those who frequent La Croix Rouge would not recognize our lunches as replicas of the best sellers off their menus. Nonetheless, they were quite elegant and tasty.
No recipe is needed for this simple lunch fare, but details can be found in Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan.
Such a fancy and easy little meal! I love this!
LOL – love that Bill made the sandwiches his own. Your round bread is intriguing. This was really good, despite its simplicity.
Ha! Nice try! Bill’s on to you! lol
I love simple sandwiches such as these. You can do anything with them you want, including making them American-ized if you want. But then there’s always a trip to Paris…
Sam
Ah Paris … And Tartines… Swoon.
Haha…husbands. 🙂 I would totally love that salmon version! What a great lunch!
I love the French for their food among other reasons. When they make a simple meal, somehow it’s as delicious as the most complex things in my kitchen. These tartines look absolutely marvelous. I love the roast beef with pickles AND the salmon one!
These sound so delicious!! Bill sounds like my husband – the pickiest eater alive.
mmm. The nutella tartine was my favorite! Funny that your husband added the extras and removed what he didn’t want. Sneaky! 😉 Beautiful photos!
Liz, very elegant looking tartines indeed – what a lovely presentation – I like the different kinds of bread that the Doristas chose for these opne-faced sandwiches today – what a fun and easy assignment and one we all seem to have liked!
Hope your husaband has recovered well!
I hope you pretended that you were eating at some charming Parisian bistro as you ate these despite Bill’s Americanizing of his tartine. I think I’d choose the beef but the salmon is quite tempting too, oh dear, do I have to make a decision?
This looks delicious Liz. I’ll be right over. lol
Dang! this looks seriously crave worthy!
Your post made me laugh out loud today. Happy to hear that the patient enjoyed his French Friday, even if he had to make a few slight modifications first:-)
Ha Liz! Your post made me smile. I can picture Bill transforming his tartine into a sandwich:)
Oh fun, sounds like Hubby will be your sous chef for a few weeks! May I suggest switching to decaf until he goes back to work?:@)
I love tartines, especially for a weekend lunch!
I would pretend I’m back in Paris as I eat these.
Lizzy,
I’d go with the rare roast beef version myself. They do look quite elegant though.
Annamaria
Ketchup?! I’d love to see the crowd at La Croix Rouge watch Bill eat that 😉
Delicious lunch, indeed! The ketchup and extra piece of bread made me laugh. At least you can say that Bill liked it! Hope the recovery is continuing well.
Great tartines! These were pretty filling for lunch. Who would’ve thought?
Well…I like your open-faced sandwiches and prefer the look of them without the lid and the ketchup! I would love the roast beef one with the cornichons and capers – looks divine xx
what everyone did not see at my post were: out came our famous Lingam hot cili sauce, and the top slice of bread on top of the salmon tartine! Well? we went without lemon what?!!
I would love both, but I am partial to the salmon! These are beautiful. 🙂
Wow…tasty tartines. Simple and elegant. They would make me very happy…:) ela
How classy your tar tines look my friend, what a delicious lunch 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What a beautiful lunch! Simple but delicious I bet!
Your description of Bill’s modification made me laugh. glad both of you enjoyed your tartines/sandwiches. They look lovely on the round slices of bread.
These tartines look like such a great lunch. Love that you made two different versions – I would love the smoked salmon one and my husband would totally drool over the one with roast beef. Hope Bill’s recovery goes smoothly and fast for him and you 🙂
I can only picture what my teenager boys would do if I handed them an open face sandwich. Same response as Bill’s but extra hot sauce instead of ketchup. I love those jumbo sized capers. Take Care, BAM
Mmmm… these both look delicious and I love smoked salmon.
You’re so good Liz… I would have gotten into a fight about not trying the sandwich as it first. I do this both my kids and my husband… but it probably isn’t worth it. He made it his own. 4 weeks… you’re going to have to put Bill to work in the kitchen.
For such an impressive-looking sandwich and the lovely French name as well , those sandwiches are so easy to prepare 😀 Hey , ketchup is a must for me as well lol Hope your Bill is getting well .
Beautiful lunches (sans the ketchup). LOL
Ketchup? LOL! I have a son who puts ketchup on just about everything, including my spinach pies…no accounting for taste!! My Bill actually liked them! Just the way I made them…go figure! Your presentation is lovely, Lizzy! So very delicious looking! Have a great weekend!
Gee, Liz, that sounds just like hubby. I hate it when he watches me preparing a recipe, he
know everything, drives me nuts, and yes, out comes ketchup or the salt shaker before even
trying it. Anyhow, your tartines look great, and I really loved both of these little sandwiches.
look absolutely Lizzy!!
Im hungry right now still don’t lunch:)
xx
They both look great, though it is hard fro me to envision the smoked salmon without a bagel underneath. And it is breakfast time and that looks mighty fine – tartine or not!
This is such a fancy meal that looks so delicious!
Beautiful open sandwiches! I love the salmon more 🙂
Your tartines look delicious – the bread so beautiful. The addition of ketchup is a surprising one… 🙂 but so happy that the patient liked his and is feeling better! Thanks for the reminder about the strawberries and goat cheese – that was a favorite.
Elegant.
—-With some red wine, of course! YUmmmmmmm xxx
I am so hungry right now 🙂
I love these, make them a lot using roast beef and have made them using tuna! They look delicious! 🙂
Lovely presentation. These tartines were delicious:) Glad to hear bill is doing good.
We eat smoked salmon with capers over cream cheese on bagels on weekends. We really enjoy the combination. Your tartines look so good! I can eat this every lunch… Gotta try roast beef one!
How fancy these look! And so simple…..thanks so much! Great recipe.
Well I cannot even begrudge Bill his tartine-antics which, of course, shot-to-hell everything Dorie’s beloved La Croix Rouge was attempting to convey. We can never accuse Bill of being chic but you make up for that in spades! If he is bothering and annoying the heck out of you (and, I don’t expect you to admit this), it means he’s on the mend. Good luck on keeping that man under wraps for 4 weeks. I don’t envy you the task. The pickle thing. The difference between you and me, among other things, is in the details. I, of course, didn’t cut my pickles very well so when I stashed them under the roast beef, it made for a lumpy tartine. Yours, of course are beautifully cut, all the same, and do not have a look of lumpiness. I try not to be resentful of your talents.
Better to make them your own and be happy than follow the recipe and have Bill give the thumbs down, I say.
Your presentation is so pretty – I love all the details!
The sandwich topped tartine story does not surprise me 🙂 They are still very lovely.
This cracked me up. I’m so glad that Bill is feeling better.
Sharing an elegant lunch with your honey is pretty cool. I still say you and Bill should have your own show!
LOL, I was tempted to do the same actually, although keeping the cornichons and leaving out the ketchup 🙂 at least it was well received! but come on, no pickles Bill?? 😉