Elevate the everyday

We can’t reinvent the wheel every day. It’s just lunch. A sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich.

We all know that feeling. What shall I have for lunch? On autopilot, we head to the kitchen, open the fridge, collect the various accoutrements for a sandwich assemblage. Bread + filling. We rely on the tried and tested. The simple. The same. It doesn’t matter. We want something quick. It feels a bit much to start faffing about when we’re just trying to feed ourselves and get back to work. We can’t be making a special sandwich at home, on a weekday lunch. That shit’s just for the weekend, surely.

Choosing a better bread, finding a filling with a bit of flair, considering condiments carefully, adding in a few extras, a little thought for food makes a big difference. You don’t have to settle for a sad sandwich.

Fish finger sandwich with chunky tartare sauce

Take this, the tried and tested fish finger sandwich.

Make it better.

First, good bread. The sort you need to actually chew rather than it disappearing into the roof of your mouth as you sink your teeth in. Fish fingers, grilled until crisp and still piping hot. Mayonnaise mixed with gherkins, capers and hard boiled egg to create a delicious chunky tartare-style sauce. Some fresh juicy leaves. Now that is a sandwich that’ll put a smile on your face on any day of the week.

A wooden chopping board where two fish finger sandwiches with chunky tartare sauce are being assembled

For the sandwich

Your favourite sliced white

Spread/butter of choice

Freshly cooked fish fingers

Mixed leaves - I’ve gone for baby leaf & pea shoots

For the sauce

Mayonnaise

Capers

Gherkins (pickles)

Salt & pepper

Lemon juice

Hard boiled egg

Pickle juice for the dill flavour and to slacken the sauce

Mash up the hard boiled egg with a fork, adding a couple of generous spoonfuls of mayonnaise. To that, add capers, chopped gherkin, salt, pepper, lemon juice and a little of the pickling liquor to your liking.

You could go one, two or even three steps further still and whisk up your own homemade mayonnaise, batter your own fish goujons or even bake your own bread. Perhaps that is a bit much for a workday lunch!