Fish Sando.

I know you’ll probably look at this and think “I’m not going to make aioli from scratch just to have a sandwich”, but I beg you, give it a go! It’s honestly not as hard as you may have conjured up in your head.

The aioli is one of those things that’s so yummy and handy to have, dilute it with some water to make a quick Caesar salad dressing, dollop it alongside a piece of steak or fish or chicken or any roast vegetable, add it to potato, leek, spring onion, parsley and vinegar for an easy potato salad - just trust me here, it goes well with lots of things and you’ll be grateful you have a jar in your fridge almost every lunch (and dinner) time!

For this sandwich, use any fish of your choice, it doesn’t have to be tinned - it can be freshly friend, beer battered, from the fish and chip shop, however you want to do it. If you’re not a fish eating kinda person, some shredded poached chicken is a real treat here too.

Anchovy aioli:

(makes more than you need for the sandwich, but keep the remainder in a jar in the fridge and enjoy with anything you like! Great to have on hand):

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

2 cloves garlic

6-8 anchovies

1 (generous) tablespoon seeded mustard

Zest and juice of 1 lemon (zest optional)

Heaps of black pepper

50g parmesan, grated finely

200ml olive oil

200ml neutral oil

2-3 tablespoons white wine vinegar to loosen at the end, if you want to

Method:

Place all ingredients, except for oils, into a food processor and blitz together. While the machine is running, slowly pour in the olive oil, followed by the neutral oil, at a slow enough pace as not to make it split (very slowly).

It should be a thick, creamy aioli speckled with yummy, fishy, peppery, mustardy goodness. I like to loosen it a little with a small amount of white wine vinegar (more lemon juice or ACV will work fine too) - add a tablespoon at a time a pulse until it reaches a nice, thick and creamy consistency of your desire!

For the sandwich:

Ingredients:

2 large pickles, diced

3 small pickled onions or 2 big ones, diced

1/2 cup anchovy aioli from above

1/4 cup sour cream or thick Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon seeded or dijon mustard

Heaps of pepper

Juice and zest from half a lemon

Method:

Combine all the ingredients, start with a little lemon juice before adding it all, you want it to be nice and thick and dollopy, not too runny.

If you accidentally go too far, add a bit more aioli until you get it nice and thick again.

For the herby celery greens:

Ingredients:

1 spring onion

1 celery stalk (and its leaves)

A good handful of parsley and dill

2 teaspoons good vinegar

A good pinch of salt

Method:

Slice the spring onion (the whole thing inc greens and whites) on the diagonal thinly.

Slice the stalk of the celery thinly and chop the leaves roughly.

Very roughly chop your dill and parsley.

Add them all together and toss with vinegar and salt.

To assemble:

Ingredients:

Good seeded sourdough

1 tin of good quality sardines or tinned fish of your choice

Some thinly sliced cucumber (optional)

Method:

Cut your bread into sandwich slices of your desired thickness.

Dollop a generous serving of the creamy pickle mixture, followed by the sardines, the cucumbers and the herby celery greens.

Place the other slice of bread on top and enjoy!