First written in August 2013, refreshed and updated December 2021
For quite a few years now, once a month, I have coffee with a friend in The Baytree, one of the independent little coffee shops in Heathfield. We were talking about food, as we often do, and one of us said about olives and soft cheese in a sandwich. My friend said that it was her favourite sandwich from High School. As I had the last of a jar of black olives to use up, that was my lunch today.
So my anonymous friend, this is for you xx
How Do I Make an Olive, Soft Cheese and Cucumber Sandwich
Spread 2 slices of bread with soft cheese and top with halved black olives – be generous!
Top the olives with slices of cucumber and the 2nd slice of bread.
What is the sandwich like?
This was even more delicious than I had imagined. To go all Masterchef, the softness of the bread, with the salty olives and the soft creaminess of the cheese, tempered with the hint of garlic and the crunch from the cucumber. Totally yum.
This is a real quality sandwich, it would cost £3 or £4 from a shop. It will sit quite happily in a lunch box.
More soft cheese ideas here.
What changes can I make?
- Change the black olives to green ones, or stuffed ones. Or leave them out altogether
- Instead of cucumber, use a few salad leaves, snipped cress from a punnet or slices of tomato.
- Vary the bread. I used granary here, but you could use white, wholemeal, sourdough, brown or white rolls, or pitta bread.
- Swap half the cream cheese for mayonnaise.
- Add a squeeze of tomato puree, a spoon of hoisin sauce or sweet chilli sauce
Using pitta instead of 2 slices of bread, this sandwich features in Meal Plan 2, a complete 7 day plan for 2 people
What other sandwiches can I make?
8 Sandwich Pastes for super cheap sandwiches and toast toppers
This simple egg mayonnaise sandwich is an utter classic
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread a value
- 50 g soft cheese value soft cheese
- smear garlic paste
- 50 g olives basics, 350g drained weight jar
- 50 g cucumber thick slices
Instructions
- Spread the cream cheese over both slices of bread
- Top with the halved olives
- Thickly slice the cucumber and place on top of the olives
- Place the 2nd slice of bread on top and slice the sandwich in half
Notes
- Change the black olives to green ones, or stuffed ones. Or leave them out altogether
- Instead of cucumber, use a few salad leaves, snipped cress from a punnet or slices of tomato.
- Vary the bread. I used granary here, but you could use white, wholemeal, sourdough, brown or white rolls, or pitta bread.
- Swap half the cream cheese for mayonnaise.
- Add a squeeze of tomato puree, a spoon of hoisin sauce or sweet chilli sauce
Haha, they’re good aren’t they! They were inspired by a good friend
Just had this for my lunch, what can I say except OMG, this is bl**dy gorgeous! So nice, I’m having another one which makes me a little fat piggy-wig. Thanks for this Lesley.