Sandwiched in Tradition

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

I think one of my favourite sandwiches has to be crusty white bread like bloomer or sourdough, with a thick spreading or Horseradish cream, sliced tomatoes, a few rocket leaves and some wonderfully juicy slices of rare roast beef piled high with another layer of Horseradish on top. It’s so good that anytime I make it for anyone, it becomes a favourite! I love making club sandwiches and making them at home can reduce fat content and calories as well as salt content too. I used toasted white bread, lean back bacon, thinly sliced avocados, salted tomatoes and home-cooked roast chicken with a little mayo, piled high into a single or double-decker sandwich. Fabulous! Although my cousin Pasha will say that his favourite of my sandwiches has to be my spicy salami sandwich, using salami ‘Ventricina’ which is typical of Abruzzo in Italy laden with many (many) spicy Peperoncino peppers, which are small, but incredibly lethal chillies. On toasted Ciabatta bread with mayonnaise, many slices of ‘Ventricina’ salami and lots of salted tomatoes, forms Pasha’s personal favourite.

But if you ask me to epitomise “Heaven in every bite” when speaking of a sandwich, only one memory comes to mind. A visit to the Chorizo stand at ‘Brindisa’ in Borough Market, where I tasted the only sandwich that ever made me think “This is it… I have found the Holy Grail of all sandwiches” and for only £4.50 you can experience it too. A double flame grilled spicy Spanish Chorizo sausage, sandwiched in between olive oil drenched crusty bread topped with lustrously red, juicy Piquillo peppers and a handful of rocket. The first mouthful is nothing short of orgasmic and every subsequent mouthful is a symphony of flavour explosions in your mouth. It’s salty, spicy, meaty, juicy, sweet, peppery and absolutely the kind of simple meal that makes life worth living. It’s essentially just four ingredients, Chorizo, bread, rocket and pepper. A drizzle of olive oil is up to you really… The sausage just oozes juice and fat in abundance, so you don’t even really need it. It’s just the most amazing sandwich-related experience ever! So amazing… that it’s almost religious. There is nothing more to be said.

Sandwiches can be accredited to John Montagu, an 18th century English Aristocrat, also known as the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Although he was not responsible for this creation, he they were named after him and without his penchant for these filled bread dishes, we would never have known this food in quite the same way we do today. Perhaps they wouldn’t existent in the thousands of different forms that they so clearly do these days! So in honour of his memory, I ask you to not settle for the bland, limp creations that sit in triangular shaped clear plastic packaging. If you cannot find what you crave in store, take three or four great ingredients and make your own sandwich. Make something unique, something delicious that contains all the things that you like (don’t listen to others!) and layer it with the love and attention that every meal deserves. I always think the best meals are often the ones that are too good to share with anyone else – and who am I to disagree with that kind of wisdom!