Why do I call this an Austrian Style Sandwich, you may ask? Well, simple: Because I can. In Austria people usually eat open-faced sandwiches more often than the regular (closed) ones. I also do prefer the open-face kind, be it because you can actually see what you are about to eat or because you will need more time to enjoy the bread slices separately and therefore you will eat less. But if you want a sandwich for the road, there is no way an open-faced sandwich will make you happy – unless you like it the messy way.

Back to my question: What should be the  Austrian contribution to this sandwich? First of all: The sunflower bread. This kind of bread is very common in Austria and is my to-go bread. Secondly, the rest of the ingredients (haha). Especially the quark, which is more cheese than yogurt. In Austria and Germany it is available in every supermarket. But note, that only Germans would call it Quark, Austrians call it Topfen. Usually Topfen is a little firmer, similar to farmer cheese. It works well for spreading it on a slice of dark bread, makes a great filling for pierogis and is even better used sweet, as pastry filling.

For this sandwich, I used homemade Topfen/Quark as you can see in the picture above (recipe follows), but store-bought Quark, cream cheese or even greek yogurt is fine too.

For the cheese spread, I usually chop some of the washed and patted dry watercress (about 1 tablespoon chopped per sandwich) and mix it with the quark (about 3 tablespoons per sandwich). Set the rest of the watercress aside; you will use the whole leaves later. Season the spread with salt and pepper. If you are a basil fan, additionally stir in some basil pesto.

The rest is pretty much assembling the sandwich.

Spread the sunflower bread (or other multi-grain bread) with quark, add layers of cucumber and watercress leaves.

Top with a layer of sliced radishes and some basil leaves.

Atop goes another slice of sunflower bread, spread with quark.

Enjoy!

Austrian Style Sandwich

Ingredients

• Sunflower bread (here: easy no-knead sunflower bread) or any other multi-grain bread
• Plain German style quark (here homemade, recipe follows), you can substitute greek yogurt or cream cheese (about 3 tablespoons per sandwich) *
• Watercress, washed, large stalks removed and shaked/patted dry
• Cucumber, washed and finely sliced
• Radishes, sliced finely
• Basil leafs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
  * I often use Fage or Elli Quark. For basil-lovers: Add some basil pesto to the Quark for extra basil flavor.

Instructions

1. Chop some of the watercress (about 1 tablespoon chopped per sandwich) and mix it with the quark (about 3 tablespoons per sandwich). You will need the rest (whole leaves) later. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread it onto the slices of bread all the way to the edges.
2. Assemble your sandwich with cucumber slices, remaining watercress, slices of radish and some basil leaves. I like my sandwich on the salty side, so I additionally salt the cucumber slices.
3. On top goes the second slice of bread, spread with the quark/watercress spread. Wrap in wax paper if you want it to go. And: Enjoy!

3.1

https://www.lilvienna.com/austrian-style-sandwich/

Did you follow this recipe? You could share your result here. All you need to do is take a picture with your smartphone and send it to [email protected]