A Toast to the Great British Sandwich

A Toast to the Great British Sandwich.

So shoot me down…I’m a little patriotic when it comes to food, but I think us Brits are literally smitten with sarnies. I know I am.

And this week represents the most wonderful opportunity to get stuck in and celebrate one of Britain’s most cherished institutions – the sandwich!

Whilst there are dozens of quality high street sandwich shops and deli’s such as Pret A Manger, Deli France and the like – there is nothing and I mean NOTHING that can compare to a home-made sarnie constructed with a little creativity and a loving hand.



So…Great British Sandwich week got me thinking…what’s great about Britain…what is more, what would be great about Britain in a sandwich? Well when it comes to tradition, my feet are firmly screwed to the floor when I say that the Sunday Roast Dinner has to be one of Britain’s biggest traditions. Who says roasts have to be just for Sundays? In fact leftovers were frequently used as fillings for sandwiches…and rightly so. Who would want to miss out on second helpings with a twist?

Here’s my take on what I think has to be The Great British Sandwich.

Rare Roast Beef Sandwich with Caramelised Onions

Serves approx: 2

Ingredients:

4 thick slices of crusty granary bread
6 slices of thinly sliced rare roast beef
Crispy romaine lettuce – shredded or alternatively watercress

For the Horseradish cream

50ml Mayonnaise
50ml of crème fraiche
45g fresh horseradish, grated, or chopped.
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the Caramelised Onions

Knob of Butter
1 red or whte onion, cut into rings and seasoned.
Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1-2 teaspoons Demerara Sugar



Method:

First I would suggest that you prepare the Caramelised Onions, and please bear in mind that you could make a whole batch of this and it will keep in a lidded jar for a month or so in your fridge. It is the perfect accompaniment to go with cheeses and salads.

Belt butter in pan, when it has reached a honeycomb like effect now is the time to add your seasoned onions, sweat for 2-3 minutes and sprinkle the sugar over – if needed add a little water. When the sugar has began to caramelise add a good tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, you want the pan to be hot enough to burn out the vinegar leaving a nice sweet taste. Continue to cook for a further 4-5 minutes until the onions are really starting to reduce in size now. Remove from the heat when you have achieved a nice sticky consistency.

Next, time to prepare the Horseradish Cream.

In a non-metallic bowl, grate or chop the horseradish, next add the mayonnaise and crème fraiche and combine all ingredients together. Finally adding, the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Season to taste. As an optional extra for colour, snip chives into the mix.

Assembly time:

Butter the bread, position lettuce on one slice and slather horseradish cream on the other. Layer the rare roast beef on top of the lettuce and top off with your now warm caramelised onions. Sandwich together.

Sandwich Heaven? Yesiree….I’m one happy lady. Make this, and you’ll never be satisfied with a bog standard sandwich ever again...

For the love of food.

For the love of food...

God, food gets me excited. I love to grow it, cook it, eat it. From seed to plate...it doesn’t get much better than that for me. I’m a working married mother of one, and to me feeding my boys the good stuff is of the utmost importance.

My husband (we’ll just call him Butch for now) and I have been renovating our farmhouse for the past 5 years...there’s still a hell of a lot to do, but I am so lucky to have the most wonderful home and a pantry to die for. It’s one of those old style pantries, you know the kind where you have stone steps down into it and shelves upon shelves of storage space. There’s even still salting in the walls where the pigs used to hang. It’s such a wonderful space saver, yet totally practical. It keeps things refrigerated in the winter and super cool in the Summer. I love it.

Amongst those shelves accommodates my passion for jamming, canning...ahem, preserving. That’s the word I was looking for! I love that what’s in season now, can still be enjoyed the next. Which reminds me of my latest jamming session which has produced the most wonderful results...so much so, it’s all gone!


Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam

1.5Kg of Strawberries...preferably British. They ARE the best :-)
750g Rhubarb (from my dads garden) but try to source as local as possible!
1Kg Preserving Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
15g Unsalted Butter


Method:

Wash strawberries, hull and place in non-metallic bowl. If the strawberries are particularly large, I would halve. Once the strawberries have been prepared...move onto the Rhubarb. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, so be sure to discard along with the filaments. Chop into chunky 1cm pieces. Place in the bowl with the strawberries. Now add the sugar and juice of 1 lemon and leave to macerate overnight.

When you come to cook the jam mixture, it is best to have a heavy maslin pan as this has an encapsulated base which provides even heat distribution whilst cooking, which is perfect when preserving.

Place mixture in the pan, and bring to a rapid boil...do not add any water, strawberries contain high water content and this will affect the setting of the jam. We are looking for a nice consistency.

I tend to rapid boil for 10-15 minutes and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 1-2 hours, depending on when the mixture looks ready. By adding the butter, you won’t need to skim the mixture...it’s all good stuff, don’t take it out!

To test whether your jam will set, you can place a teaspoon of the jam onto a plate and allow to cool, if it’s still runny when cool it needs more pectin, either in the form of sugar or lemon juice and continue to boil for a little while longer.

Sterilise glass jars and pour mixture in when cool.

Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy. I like mine on crusty buttery granary toast.