A Pescetarian Club Sandwich

Since moving to Cambridge, Ed and I have starting doing 'as the Romans do' and are now quite the fans of toasts and tea. (Although for the latter, I prepare mine slightly differently, paying homage to the 'teh' that is ubiquitous in Singapore. But that deserves a separate story.)

Between the two of us, we can easily wipe out a loaf of sliced white/brown bread in a week. It makes storing the loaf in the freezer a little bit of a silly exercise, but it has become too much of a habit and a safety net. If you've not heard of storing your bread in the freezer, you really need to read this. That's one less thing to have to worry about finishing before its expiry date. Ed gives me lots of grief about that, so I've grown increasingly fanatical about checking expiry dates and googling 'Recipes which need insert-name-of-ingredient-which-is-expiring/has-already-expired'.

Anyway, back to the sandwich. I rarely make sandwiches, really. Whenever we have toast, I simply toast a couple of slices of bread and lay out all the spreads we have. This currently includes peanut butter, Marmite (not Bovril, since we don't take meat), Bon Maman black cherry conserve (which brings me back to Paris, when I first tasted it), Philly cream cheese (only the full fat stuff), and butter with nice crunchy brittany sea salt crystals. It is quite a spread (pun fully intended).

Since it does get quite filling (especially after four slices of toast), I have been tempted to cheat Ed into having more such fuss free meals, especially for breakfast or lunch since I'm the grumpy morning type. But I know the only healthy part of such a meal is the fact that the bread has some whole wheat in it. So I decided I should try to make a sandwich that could pass off as vaguely healthy.

This turned out to be a delicious yet simple sandwich that strangely evoked memories of bacon-laden club sandwiches. We used to order that through room service whenever we were feeling indulgent while on holiday. It was an easy dish to share, and usually comes with a side of skinny fries. Of course, since we no longer eat bacon, that's a thing of the past. But there are plenty of pescetarian-friendly ingredients that pack as much flavour as bacon, for a good alternative to the traditional club sandwich.

The history of the club sandwich is highly disputed, but many point to it being associated to its popularity in country clubs. It seems that the very first version of club sandwich is also different from what we are used to seeing today - it was not a triple decker sandwich for starters, and only had chicken - never turkey.

Nevetheless, I modelled our pescetarian club sandwich vaguely after the triple decker we're accustomed to. And we replaced the poultry with smooth, fatty smoked salmon. To balance the saltiness from the smoked salmon, I made a simple mayonnaise (that takes at most a minute to whip up, two if you count retrieving the ingredients and putting them back), added thinly sliced courgettes, and lined the sandwich with a crunchy piece of iceberg lettuce. In the other part, it was simply a single bulls-eye egg with the yolk only partially cooked and some halved cornichons.

What seemed to be most crucial in this sandwich, and perhaps in all sandwiches, was balance. Not just of taste - the salty against the rich, smokey against the fresh - but also of texture. Courgettes are slightly softer than cucumbers, so they had to be sliced slightly thicker to provide enough crunch. The bread was toasted to the point that it was almost brittle, for even more crunch. Everything else in the sandwich was soft or juicy, so anything crispy, crunchy or even chewy was welcome.

This is a sandwich that ticks all the right boxes. This won't be the last we'll see of this sandwich, that's for sure.

Here's the recipe for the homemade mayonnaise. It will be slightly more yellow than the commercially made mayonnaise because commercially made mayonnaise may use egg whites as well, and be machine blended - the latter of which would incorporate more air and therefore lighten the colour. Use the recipe merely as a guide, and adjust with more oil, lemon juice, salt or pepper to your liking. Since it is incredibly easy to make, this is one less bottle of 'stuff' in your fridge with an expiry date to worry about.

EASY HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

Ingredients

One egg yolk

1 scant tsp dijon mustard

A gentle squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Vegetable oil (or any other neutral tasting oil)

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mix egg yolk, dijon mustard and lemon (if desired) with a whisk in a non-reactive bowl, like a glass or ceramic bowl.

Slowly drizzle in vegetable oil while whisking the mixture with the other hand. Alternatively, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil first, whisk the mixture until completely incorporated before repeating with another tablespoon of oil. Repeat this until your mixture reaches your desired consistency/thickness. (I find that this usually takes about 80-100ml of oil.)

Add salt and pepper to taste.

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