I still stand by many of the sandwiches in my first book, Real Fast Food (Michael Joseph, 1992): thinly sliced cold roast pork with sea salt, smashed crackling and mayonnaise; bread spread with anchovy paste and Camembert, toasted till the cheese runs; the bacon sarnie made with ‘plastic’ white sliced bread; even the pitta bread stuffed with fried leftover potatoes, garam masala and basil vinaigrette, despite the leap of faith you need to take to make it.
We all have our favourites. The homemade sandwich is a friend who rarely lets us down. Hand-held food rights our wrongs, turning a bad world briefly good. Here are a few of my favourites, from the simplest to the most extravagant, that continue, year in, year out, to save my soul.
Roast courgette and feta
Slice small courgettes lengthways – longer ones may be better cut into rounds – then put them in a small roasting tin. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little crushed garlic. Roast till soft and sweet. Crumble over a little feta, then pile into crisp rolls or serve as a warm open sandwich.
Roast vegetables, garlic mayo. The warm, sweet breeze of basil
Slice aubergines, tomatoes and courgettes, toss them in plenty of olive oil, then season with lots of garlic, black pepper, salt and finely chopped rosemary. Roast till everything is very soft. Chop a handful of basil leaves, stir them into mayonnaise and beat in some of the garlicky juices from the roasting tin. Stop before it curdles. Slather the basil mayo over crusty bread, then pile on the vegetables.
The comfort of carbs
Slice leftover new potatoes into thick coins. Fry them in butter and a little oil till they are lightly crisp and golden. Spread mayonnaise thickly on to your bread and pile the hot potatoes on to it. (I like to add chopped dill to this one.)
The Italian
Paper-fine air-dried ham and soft, flour-dusted, airy bread such as ciabatta. I have been known to tuck in a basil leaf or two. You can brush the cut bread with olive oil but the holes prevent the inclusion of any sort of spread.
Breakfast Burger
sausages, smoked bacon, bagels, tomatoes, cheese
Slit the skin of 3 herby butcher’s sausages, remove the meat and put it into a mixing bowl. Chop 75g smoked streaky bacon, mix it with the sausage, check the seasoning, then roll into two plump patties.
Using a non-stick pan covered with a lid, cook the burgers in a little oil, over a low to moderate heat. Turn each burger several times during cooking, until they have developed a sticky, almost Marmite-like exterior.
Split and toast a couple of bagels, place a couple of slices of large, ripe tomato and the burgers on the bottom halves, add a few slices of interesting cheese and briefly place under a hot grill till the cheese has melted. Top with the other half of the bagels.
For 2. Soft bun. Herby sausage. Smoked bacon. Melting cheese. Happy weekend.
Steak sandwich
A thin, flash-fried steak. Crisp baguette. Mustard. Mayonnaise. The trick is to slice the bread and press the cut side down into the steak pan, wiping up all the juices with the bread, before adding the mustard, slathering with mayonnaise and tucking the steak in. It’s the pan juices that make it.
Buttery leeks and chicken burger
Buy minced chicken, or better still mince your own, so you can include the skin. Slice a spring onion and fry in oil and butter, then add chopped sage, a little garlic and leeks, finely shredded. Let them soften, slowly, under a lid, till they are bright green, satin-soft and buttery. Add the minced chicken and cook briefly, before making into patties and frying in a non-stick pan until golden and sticky. Slather short lengths of crisp baguette with mayonnaise, then use to sandwich the burgers.
Duck Burgers
duck breasts, spring onions, plum, honey, soy sauce, breadcrumbs, lettuce, cucumber, chilli
Put 2 duck breasts (about 200g total weight) into a food processor, add a large spring onion, a stoned fresh plum, a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Blitz to a coarse mince then add 75g fresh white breadcrumbs.
Form the paste into 4 burgers. Roll each in a few more breadcrumbs, then fry over a low heat for 10 minutes each side.
Place each burger on a large, crisp lettuce leaf, add shredded cucumber, chopped spring onion and a small, shredded chilli and wrap the burgers in the lettuce.
For 3–4. Sweet, fruity and crisp.
Chicken burger with lemon and tarragon
I can’t get enough of these; they’re one of my favourite recipes in the book.
Put 400g chicken breasts, with their skin, in a food processor. Add a good handful of tarragon leaves, the zest and juice of a small to medium lemon, a clove of garlic, salt, pepper and 4 heaped tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs (I use panko). Blitz to a coarse paste but stop before the mixture becomes gluey. Heat a fine layer of olive oil in a shallow, non-stick pan, then shape the mixture into about 6 patties and fry for 10 minutes, turning gently, till golden.
The Christmas burger
Fresh white and brown turkey meat, including the skin for succulence, sausage meat (I generally work on a balance of half turkey to half sausage meat), a few chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, fresh thyme, salt and black pepper. Blitz then flatten into small, deep patties and fry slowly in butter and a little oil. Serve with cranberry sauce. Should you decide to use cooked turkey meat for this, mince it well, then add an egg yolk or two to the mixture to help to hold it together.
Vietnamese Prawn Baguettes
raw prawns, coriander, garlic, chilli, lemongrass, fish sauce, rice vinegar, pickled ginger, carrot, ginger, spring onion, mayonnaise, sesame oil, baguettes
Put 250g raw shelled prawns in a food processor with 8 coriander stems, 2 cloves of garlic, a bird’s eye chilli, a lemongrass stalk, a lump of fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons of Vietnamese fish sauce and 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar. Blitz.
Finely shred half a carrot. Shred 10g Japanese pickled ginger. Finely slice a spring onion and toss all three together with a little fresh coriander. Stir 2 teaspoons of sesame oil into 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Put