For 2. One of the great sandwiches. IMHO.
Fish fingers in a sandwich, green herb mayo
Grill or fry fish fingers till crisp. A light cooking should keep them moist inside. Split a baguette in half. Stir some capers, chopped dill and basil into mayonnaise and spread it over the baguette. Tuck in a lettuce leaf, then the hot, fresh-from-the-pan fish fingers. Squirt with lemon juice. Crisp. Soft. Green. Unapologetic.
Trout in a soft bap
Dust a couple of trout fillets in flour to which you have added a good pinch of smoked paprika. Fry in shallow butter, or oil if you prefer, then drain on kitchen paper. Sandwich in a soft, fresh bap and squeeze over a little lemon juice.
Prawns, bacon, brown toast
Grill a few large shelled prawns and some streaky bacon. Put them into a sandwich of hot brown toast spread with a little mango chutney.
Chorizo Burgers
chorizo, minced pork, ciabatta buns, salad leaves
Remove the skin from 350g chorizo cooking sausages and discard. Put the meat in a mixing bowl, add 250g minced pork and mix well. The pork will lighten the dense chorizo. The seasoning will need little, but much depends on your chorizo, some being more highly flavoured than others. Split the mixture into 4 and roll into balls. Pat each one into a thick patty, about the diameter of a digestive biscuit.
Get a non-stick frying pan hot, add a very thin film of oil, then place the burgers in the pan. Let them cook till lightly browned on the underside, then flip and cook the other side, adjusting the heat accordingly so they cook through to the middle. Be gentle, lest they break up.
Split 4 ciabatta (or panini) buns open, partially fill with salad leaves, then a chorizo burger.
For 4. Smoky, succulent.
Morcilla burger. Dark blood pudding, white baps
Instead of chorizo, mix 350g soft morcilla with the pork opposite. Split into 4 and pat into thick burgers. Fry, then stuff into soft, white baps or sourdough buns.
Choose a softish chorizo rather than one of the harder varieties. It should be only a little firmer than a good butcher’s sausage.
Pork, juniper. Breakfast sausage, bright with juniper
Use 650g pork sausage meat taken from good, herby breakfast sausages. Grind 6 juniper berries and half a teaspoon of fennel seed in a pestle and mortar, then stir into the sausage meat. You could include a few herbs, such as oregano, thyme or ground bay. Shape into 4 thick, flat patties and cook as opposite. Fill the buns with a fennel salad or a tomato and cucumber salsa.
Summer Herb Rolls
cucumber, red chilli, carrot, spring onion, rice noodles, spring roll wrappers, mint, basil, coriander, chives, ponzu sauce, lime, rice vinegar, hot chilli sauce
Slice half a cucumber in half lengthways, scrape out its seeds with a teaspoon then cut the flesh into matchsticks. Very finely slice a mild, long red chilli, then cut a medium-sized carrot into small matchstick-style pieces. Shred a spring onion.
Pour a kettle of boiling water over 50g glass noodles and let them soak for a few minutes. Moisten 2 large spring roll wrappers in warm water, lay them on a work surface, then divide the shredded vegetables between them, tucking 6 or 7 basil leaves, 6 or 7 mint leaves and 6 or 7 coriander leaves into each one as you go. Lay 4 slim chives on to each one, then wrap the vegetables up into parcels.
Make a dip for the summer rolls by mixing together a tablespoon of ponzu sauce, the juice of half a lime, a teaspoon of rice vinegar and a teaspoon of hot chilli sauce. Eat the rolls, cut into two, with the dip.
Makes 2 large rolls. Bright-tasting. A hot, refreshing crunch.
Good things to put in your summer rolls, served with the dipping sauce opposite
• Coarsely shredded daikon, glass noodles, shelled prawns, coriander.
• Shredded red chilli, watercress, beanshoots, sliced roast duck.
• Grilled salmon, cucumber, pak choi, mirin, soy.
• Avocado, tomato, watercress, spring onion, mint.
The Bagel
bagel, mascarpone, balsamic vinegar, raisins or sultanas
Put 3 tablespoons of raisins or sultanas in a small bowl, pour in 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of warm water and leave the fruit to swell for 20 minutes or so, then drain, reserving some of the liquid. Split a bagel in half horizontally, lightly toast both cut edges then brush with some of the soaking liquid from the fruit.
Mix 200g of mascarpone with the raisins and spread thickly over the hot bagel.
For 1. Sweet, warm. Feel-good.
Cream cheese, smoked salmon
Thickly-cut smoked salmon, generously-spread cream cheese, a golden chewy bagel. Bliss. But try adding a few bottled green peppercorns – the sort that come in brine – to the cream cheese; tuck in a rasher or 2 of very crisp smoked streaky bacon; stir dill or chives into the cream cheese; toast the bagel on its cut sides, spread thinly with wasabi paste then add the cream cheese and salmon; or swap the salmon for mackerel.
Chorizo paste
Peel a soft, salami-type chorizo and blitz it to a paste in a food processor, adding a little crème fraîche or olive oil to give it a spreading consistency. Slather generously on to split and toasted bagels.
Herb Burgers
mung beans, butter or flageolet beans, spring onions, garlic, basil, chives, parsley, tomatoes, ciabatta buns, salad leaves, mayonnaise
Drain and rinse a 400g can of mung beans and a 400g can of flageolet or butter beans. Finely slice 6 spring onions and let them soften in a tablespoon of oil over a moderate heat. Don’t let them brown. Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic and add them together with a large handful of basil leaves, 8 finely chopped chives and a handful of parsley, chopped. Tip in the beans and season.
Using a potato masher, partially crush the mixture so there is a combination of smooth and rough, producing a texture that will be interesting to eat. Mould small balls of the mixture into thick,