a lazy girl's brunch: smoked salmon and poached egg open face sandwich

smoked salmon and poached egg with
beyaz peynir and asian pickle open face sandwich

At some point of an evening out with friends the conversation will inevitably turn to food. It probably always has done, but since I have started blogging about food it has got much worse and I do try to rein it in, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I don't mean "worse" as in "bad", I just mean that given my inclinations I could probably monopolise any and every conversation and turn it around to food. And it's not because I want to talk about what I've cooked, I love hearing what other people are eating and why. Besides talking about food is definitely far more interesting than any discussion of reality TV or the latest budget crisis. But on this particular night I was in for a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

We were extolling happy food memories, guilty pleasures and lazy brunches. So far, so good. I mentioned that day's brunch, which while simple seemed a bit decadent. My friends first looked a little blank and then screwed up their noses. "What?" I said. "Ugh," said one. "I can't bear smoked fish, smoked anything really." I wasn't entirely surprised as this girl is notoriously picky and anyone who drinks whisky and coke with one cube of ice probably isn't going to be a good arbiter of taste. I turned to my other friend, looking for support. Yossi wouldn't meet my eyes. "What?" I said. He was looking a bit shifty. "Well I don't really like smoked salmon either," and he turned to gaze at his pint.

"But you've eaten smoked salmon at my house . . ." My voice trailed away. I was remembering a dinner party where two of my three guests announced that they didn't eat smoked salmon, which rather scuppered my plans for a starter. Yossi had insisted that he did like smoked salmon, so we ate out starters with the smoked salmon and the other friends had theirs with something else. By now Yoss was focussing intently on his beer, twisting the glass between his hands a little nervously until he said "I just didn't want to upset you". And that was my unpleasant surprise.

"You didn't have to eat it. I wouldn't have been upset . . . You could have had something else. It's not as if you could ever starve in my house; my house is awash with good things to eat. What upsets me" I bellowed "is that I WASTED my smoked salmon on you, when there would have been more for me!" God, that makes me sound like a horrible, greedy host. Which clearly I am.

I am glad I got that off my chest! So my description of my lazy lunch didn't go down very well with my two friends in the pub. (Their look of revulsion increased when I mentioned a poached egg.) I am rather hoping that you will find it more appetising, because personally I think it is bloody lovely and I can tell you right now, not a morsel of smoked salmon was wasted.

Makes 2 open faced sandwiches
Skill level: Easy

ingredients:
2 x slices of artisan bread (well perhaps not "artisan" - it was my home-made sourdough!)
beyaz peynir - Turkish sheep's milk "white cheese"  (semi-soft, a bit like feta, although often sold in brine in a can)
Asian-style pickled vegetables
smoked salmon
2 x poached eggs
freshly ground black pepper

directions:

1. Not so much a recipe as directions for self-assembly.
2. Lay thin slices of the cheese over the surface of the bread.
3. Dollop on about 1 tablespoon of the pickled vegetables (with or without the pickling juice)
4. Drape over smoked salmon.
5. Top with a poached egg and lashings of freshly ground black pepper.