EASTER SANDWICH

Ingredients

• 8 thin slices white bread (Slice as thinly as you can — about 5 mm thick. A standard sandwich loaf works perfectly.)
• 2 tablespoons butter (Use softened, room-temperature butter so it spreads easily without tearing the bread.)
• 4 leaves crisp lettuce leaf (Choose a firm variety such as cos (romaine) or iceberg so the leaves stay crisp inside the sandwich.)
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise dressing (Use a good-quality store-bought or homemade mayonnaise as your dressing.)
• 2 large eggs cold hard-boiled egg (Eggs must be fully hard-boiled and chilled before slicing. See the boiling step below.)
• 1 pinch pepper (Black or white pepper both work well. Use white pepper for a more delicate appearance.)
• 1 pinch salt (Fine table salt is easiest to distribute evenly over the egg slices.)
• 4 lengths (approximately 30 cm each) lavender baby ribbon (A narrow satin or grosgrain ribbon in lavender is traditional. Used for presentation only — not edible.)

Instructions

1. 1Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by at least 2.5 cm. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the hot water and transfer the eggs to a bowl of cold water (add a few ice cubes if you have them). Leave them to cool completely — at least 10 minutes — before peeling. Once peeled, refrigerate the eggs until cold. Cold eggs are much easier to slice neatly into rounds.
2. 2Lay all 8 slices of white bread flat on a clean chopping board or work surface. Using a butter knife or small palette knife, spread a thin, even layer of softened butter all the way to the edges of each slice. Buttering right to the edges helps protect the bread from becoming soggy when the dressed lettuce is added. Set the slices aside in pairs — each pair will form one sandwich.
3. 3Pour the mayonnaise dressing into a shallow bowl or plate wide enough to dip a lettuce leaf into. Take each crisp lettuce leaf and dip it into the mayonnaise, coating both sides lightly. Allow any excess to drip back into the bowl — you want the leaf coated, not dripping. Do this one leaf at a time, just before assembling, so the lettuce stays crisp.
4. 4Place one mayonnaise-coated lettuce leaf onto one slice of buttered bread in each sandwich pair, positioning it so it covers the bread evenly. If the leaf is larger than the bread, fold it gently to fit rather than letting it overhang significantly, as this will make cutting the sandwiches cleaner later.
5. 5Remove the cold hard-boiled eggs from the refrigerator. Using a sharp knife, slice each egg into round discs approximately 5 mm thick — you should get about 5–6 slices per egg, using only the round middle slices for the best presentation. Lay the round egg slices in a single layer over the dressed lettuce on each sandwich, covering it as evenly as possible.
6. 6Hold a small pinch of salt between your fingers and dust it evenly over the egg slices on each open sandwich. Repeat with a pinch of pepper. Season lightly — the mayonnaise already provides flavour, so you just want a gentle seasoning to bring out the egg. Place the second buttered bread slice on top, buttered side down, to close each sandwich.
7. 7Using a sharp knife, trim the crusts from each sandwich if desired for a neater finish, then cut each sandwich into 4 equal squares by making one cut down the centre and one cut across. Arrange the squares on a serving plate. Cut 4 lengths of lavender baby ribbon, each approximately 30 cm long. Tie a length of ribbon around each square sandwich with a simple bow on top for a festive Easter presentation. The ribbon is purely decorative — remove before eating.