Easy ham and asparagus sandwiches – dainty morsels for your spring afternoon tea

Do dainty. So elegant. So delightful. I love the traditional finger sandwiches served for afternoon tea.

Over time, top hotels diversified their sandwich selection and included optically-pleasing forms, such as small rolls, wraps and open sandwiches. They were still dainty, elegant and delightful. And guests could still eat them with one hand.

These easy ham and asparagus sandwiches, with the tang of lemon, creamy mayonnaise and cracked pepper are our answer to this trend. They’re dainty, elegant and delightful. Guests can eat them with one hand. And they’re perfect for Spring.

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Why these ham and asparagus sandwiches need to be part of your spring afternoon tea

Asparagus is one of the vegetables that start to fill the markets and supermarkets in spring.

When I lived in Mannheim for a year during university, I learnt that the area is the (white) asparagus capital of Germany (and much of Europe). They even make asparagus schnapps, with a phallic piece of white asparagus in the bottle.

You know that asparagus season is about to start when the cherry trees start to blossom. Due to a combination of weather and geography, the first spring blossom will appear in Germany near Mannheim.

Ham pairs particularly well with asparagus, as does lemon (as evidenced by our risotto). The combination is quintessential spring.

New sandwich forms

Traditionally, finger sandwiches were served for afternoon tea.

If you have afternoon tea at a noble hotel today, you’ll probably be served a varied collection of sandwiches, based on the traditional fare. These might include small rolls, open faced sandwiches or even shaped sandwiches for younger guests.

These ham and asparagus sandwiches add another trick to your afternoon tea sandwich arsenal. This same trick can be used, for example, for vegan humus, crunchy carrot and roasted capsicum (pepper) sandwiches.

And it is an easy trick. And you don’t need a toothpick that will stab you when you try and eat it.

Spread your lemon mayonnaise on a slice of bread, top it with aparagus, leaving one corner free and lie your asparagus on top (with the corner still free). Fold the two exposed corners of your bread over your asparagus with the “free” corner on top. The mayonnaise on the free corner will help stick the sandwich together.

Tightly wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap, making sure that the fold over is in place. Refrigerate for one to two hours to help set the sandwich in place.

5 tips for making these ham and asparagus sandwiches

Preparing your asparagus

Buy fresh asparagus and choose some with thin stalks.

The woody party of the asparagus stalk is hard and will spoil your sandwiches. But how do you know how much to remove?

Choose one stalk, hold it at each end and gently bend it until it snaps. It should snap between the woody end and the softer, delicious stalk. This point will be around one to two inches above the woody part, where the stalk darkens.

Line the asparagus up, with the tips all in a row. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the stalks of the other asparagus so that they are about the same length as the snapped stalk.

Discard the woody asparagus ends, or save them for stock.

While raw asparagus can be lovely on a salad, it does not work in these sandwiches. Steam or blanch (AKA parboil) your asparagus, as you wish.

• To steam: Place your asparagus in your steamer (I use this steamer basket in a saucepan), add the necessary water and steam for 4 minutes or until just tender. Remove from the steamer as soon as they are cooked to prevent them overcooking with residual heat.
• To blanch: Pour enough water in your saucepan to cover your asparagus and bring the water to the boil. Place your asparagus in the saucepan or in a steamer basket and boil the asparagus for 1 minute or until tender. Remove the asparagus from the saucepan and plunge it into an ice bath to stop the cooking.

Pat the asparagus dry before using in your sandwich.

If you can only get thicker asparagus stalks, use one instead of two per sandwich and adjust your steaming time.

Selecting your bread

White sandwich slices work best for these ham and asparagus sandwiches.

Multigrain bread does not bend well (the grains get in the way), sourdough tends to be stiffer and brioche tends to be too small and soft so that it breaks when you try to fold it around the asparagus.

Use a sharp bread knife to slice the crusts off cleanly to have a nice even square.

Choosing your ham

Use a thinly sliced baked (not air-dried) ham – it will bend easier when you wrap it around your asparagus.

Make sure you use enough, but not too much ham, too. We had large slices, about one and a half times the size of the bread. Break it into smaller pieces and lay it on your bread so that all the bread except for one corner is covered.

Mixing your mayonnaise

We used a cheap egg mayonnaise as our base (we like the one from Aldi).

Lemon peel is something you either love or hate. I love the tang it adds. Peter hates the texture it brings. Use your discretion.

I found this great time-saving packet of lemon zest at the supermarket which was much finer than anything I would have produced. It worked well in this mayonnaise, without causing lumps.

You lemon juice can be freshly squeezed or from a bottle, depending on your needs. And black pepper should be freshly ground, if possible. I like a lot, but you do you.

Simply mix the ingredients well and spread on your bread.

As an alternative, you can use cream cheese instead of mayonnaise. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you want to use it to allow it to soften. Add a teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind and lots of freshly-cracked black pepper (try this pepper mill), but leave out the lemon juice.

If you are not a fan of lemon (or lemon rind), use cheese spread. You could even used a “flavoured” cheese spread, like herb cheese spread or smoked cheddar. Please do NOT use cheese in a can. Make sure you use freshly-cracked black pepper too.

Prepare in advance

Many of our afternoon tea finger sandwiches do not work well if they are made in advance. Bread goes soggy or dries out in the fridge. Either way, it is not my preference (and what distinguishes a good afternoon tea from a mediocre one).

These ham and asparagus sandwiches actually need to be made in advance to allow the sandwiches to “set” in form. But don’t make them too far in advance or you’ll suffer with soggy bread. I found one to two hours to be a good time period.

How to serve these easy ham and asparagus sandwiches

Serve them on a plate or platter alone or with other spring sandwiches. If you’re using a three-tiered cake stand like this one to serve your afternoon tea, your ham and asparagus sandwiches belong on the bottom tier.

You should serve one ham and asparagus sandwich per guest, with a couple of extras if you have space.

Storing, what to do with leftovers

Hopefully you won’t have any leftovers as these ham and asparagus sandwiches will not keep for long. The bread and edges of the ham will start to dry out as the sandwiches sit on the tray. If you need to store them, keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge.

To pep-up any leftover sandwiches up, you could fry them lightly in a little butter or oil until the otherwise soggy bread is a little crispy and golden. Serve hot.

If the bread cannot be saved (it will go dry reasonably quickly), remove the ham (trim as necessary) and asparagus from the sandwiches and use them in pasta or risotto.

Looking for some dainty, elegant and delightful sandwiches for your spring afternoon tea?

You can’t go wrong with these easy ham and asparagus sandwiches. They are simple to make and with the tang of lemon, they taste as good as they look. Better yet, in order to give these sandwiches their shape, they need to be made in advance. Three good reasons to add these sandwiches to your arsenal!

What else are you making for your spring afternoon tea? Grab a copy of our free printable afternoon tea planner to help your plan!

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