La Croix Rouge is a busy café in Dorie’s Paris neighborhood. Here, people who work in the nearby boutiques order open-faced sandwiches, tartines, that they eat a la Francais with knife and fork. With this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, two simple versions of tartines from La Croix Rouge’s menu are offered.

Dorie suggests slicing the tartines into strips and serving as an appetizer. Svelte Parisian fashionistas would probably choose one version. I made one of each, picked them up whole, and ate them out of hand for lunch. Both were delicious. This recipe starts with bread, toasted on one side. I’m still obsessively baking no-knead bread a couple times a week, so homemade bread was the base for my tartines.

For Version #1, Tartine Norvegienne, the toast is spread with butter, then topped with slices of smoked salmon and sprinkled with capers and a squirt of lemon juice. Yum!

Even better is Version #2, Tartine Saint-Germain, where the toast is spread with mayonnaise, sprinkled with sliced cornichons and topped with roast beef. I love a good roast beef sandwich, with horseradish sauce or Boursin cheese. The tartine was a different flavor profile with the tart pickles, and the bed of toast gave it different texture than a softer sandwich.

I stuck to the recipe’s suggested ingredients, but I suspect my fellow Doristas weren’t so obedient. I can’t wait to see the riffs they came up with. You can see their posts here. Tartines have earned a new spot in my lunch rotation.

You don’t really need a recipe for these, but if you want it, you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.