It’s all been a bit mad round here recently, what with selling my grandparent’s house and trying to work out why the electricity in my own kitchen keeps shutting down half way through cooking things, but here’s another fantastically simple one that’s kept me entertained – the Shooter’s Sandwich.

But first, a word of warning. This isn’t a sandwich you can knock up at 12.15 to eat at 12.20. It’ll take you half an hour to prepare and then you’ve got to leave it until the following lunchtime. It’ll also take a nice big bite out of your food budget for the week.

On the flip side, there’s no way you’ll eat it on your own in one sitting. Even for me, a world famous fat bastard, there are several sittings here – probably with an accomplice.

Like everything here, the ingredients list is a bit hit and miss. How much you’ll want of everything is pretty much up to your tastes and how big a loaf of bread you buy.

• A loaf of bread. A round loaf works well, probably about 10″ in diameter. Tiger bread and cheesey topped loaves work surpringly well. As does sourdough.
• 2 good sized rib-eye steaks. You could go for cheaper ones, but I think that rib-eye really is worth it.
• A handfull of mushrooms
• An onion or half a dozen shallots
• Some garlic – I love cold smoked garlic but you need to double the amount you use
• Some good horseradish sauce and some good Dijon or English mustard
• Greaseproof paper and some foil
• Some good heavy weights or (if you’re a woodworking nerd like me) two chopping boards and some G-clamps

The first thing you need to do is chop the top off the loaf of bread, kind of like a monk’s tonsure. Keep the lid, but scoop out about 90% of the bread, leaving the crust with some bread attached. Yeah, this sandwich is going to be all crust.

Now, rub your steaks with the garlic. I’m not convinced it does much, but everyone seems to do it. Either I’m a heathen who can’t detect the difference or it’s just a habit.

Finely chop the mushrooms, onions/shallots & the garlic and fry them in some olive oil. Once they’re cooked to your liking, hook them out and put them in a bowl.

Now, cook the steaks. Some blogs will tell you to make them medium rare. Recently I read that rib eye is best served cooked medium well done. Personally, I leave them to just on the rare side of blue. But then I’d happily eat raw meat if I knew it was good enough quality.

Take the first steak and spread some horseradish over it, then put it in the bottom of your loaf. Ideally, you want it to fill the bottom, so feel free to poke it, squish it or hit it with a hammer. Now, pour the veggie mix over the top. Then, on goes the second steak together with some of the mustard. Feel free to use lots of Dijon, but only use a little English mustard unless you know your tastes. Americans – please keep in mind that English mustard and American ‘Yellow’ mustard are very, very different things.

Once it’s all in, put the lid back on and wrap the thing is greaseproof paper and then kitchen foil. Now you’re going to need to leave it somewhere cool with either a big heavy weight on it or with those chopping boards and g-clamps round it.

Ideally you want to make this 24 hours before you eat it. I don’t think I’ve ever lasted 8 hours.

Unwrap the thing and take slices out of it like it’s a pie or quiche. Fantastic with salad and piccalilli.

Tags: bread, garlic, horseradish, mushrooms, mustard, onion, rib-eye, shallots, snack, steak