Open crab sandwich topped with quail egg

Whenever I am hosting an afternoon tea party at home, I always try and think of unique flavours and ideas that will impress my guests. My quail egg and crab open sandwich never lets me down, not only does it look impressive with the cute quail egg resting on top, it’s also delicious. It’s also ridiculously easy to make but because you are using ingredients that most people wouldn’t use regularly, it helps you appear to be the host with the most.

Prepare in advance

This sandwich is fantastic to prepare  the morning of your afternoon tea party. You can prepare the separate elements and then simply assembly an hour before your guests are due to arrive. 

Ingredients

This serves 12 small sandwiches. Double up the number depending on what you need.

  • 6 quail eggs

  • 1 tin of white crab meat (500g)

  • Bunch of chives

  • 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

  • 1 teaspoon of mustard 

  • Juice of half a lemon 

  • Salt and pepper

  • Rye bread

Method

  1. Begin by boiling your quail eggs for around 2.5 minutes. They need to be hard boiled so that they can be cut later. Once boiled, set and leave to cool

  2. Prepare the crab mixture by mixing the crab, mayonnaise, mustard and juice of half the lemon. It should be moist so if necessary, add in a small amount of mayonnaise. Season as required

  3. Slice the rye bread into medium slices and use a cutter to cut out 4cm pieces. This will be the base of your open sandwiches. Cut out 12 pieces and set aside.

  4. Then begin to assemble your open sandwiches. Add a teaspoon of the crab mixture to each piece of bread. Deshell the quail eggs and cut in half, lengthwise. 

  5. Top off each sandwich with a half of the quail egg and a sprinkle of finely chopped chives 

As there are a few different flavours within the sandwich, it works perfectly well with English breakfast tea. With or without milk, it is a delightful combination. 

Having these open crab sandwiches along with loose leaf tea just screams to your guests that you have gone to great efforts to prepare an absolute treat for them. Crab and quail eggs wouldn’t be on the normal lunch menu so guests are always pleased to see something unusual prepared for them. 

Afternoon Tea Expert tip: I know that some people will shudder at the thought of mayonnaise with crab, but bear with me. If you are using tinned crab meat then I think it’s fine but if you did want to source fresh crab meat then you would only need to use the lemon and the tiniest amount of mustard to give it a little kick. Both work well but if you are using fresh crab meat then make sure to prepare it just before your afternoon tea party so it doesn’t dry up.

Eileen Donaghey