Fried cheese toasties with potato, bacon and pickled jalapeños recipe
Go all out with this fried cheese toastie, loaded with potato, bacon and pickled jalapeños.
Boil the potatoes and, while you’re at it, cook extra and keep them cool for later use (like for a potato salad). Then, slice as many cooked potatoes as you see fit to sandwich between the slices of bread filled with cheese, bacon and jalapeño. And, yes, you must first fry the bacon in the pan, turning it to crisp strips and leaving the fat behind to use to fry the assembled sandwich. Have a napkin (several, even) when ready to eat.
Ingredients
- 3 medium waxy potatoes, peeled
- 3 tbsp (heaped) butter, softened, plus more if needed
- 8 slices of good white bread (sourdough is ideal)
- 8 slices of streaky bacon
- 250 g grated Cheddar
- 1 handful pickled jalapeño chillies, drained, to taste
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Cheese
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 25 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Boil the potatoes in plenty of well-salted water for about 15 minutes, until tender. Remove from the heat, drain, cool, then cut into slices about 1cm (0.5in) thick.
- Butter one side of each bread slice using about two-thirds of the butter altogether.
- Melt the remaining butter in a large frying pan over a moderate heat and add the bacon. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until crisp and brown. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the fat behind.
- Assemble the sandwiches with the buttered side of the bread on the outside: distribute the potatoes, cheese and bacon evenly, and add the drained jalapeño chillies according to how spicy you like your food.
- With the fat in the pan and the pan over a moderate heat, fry the sandwiches in batches, pressing them down in the pan to sear and for the bread to bronze and crisp – about 2 minutes each side, until the bread has taken on a good colour and the cheese has sufficiently melted. (Use something heavy, like a saucepan filled with water to exert pressure on the sandwich as it cooks.) Add a touch more butter to the pan, if necessary, between batches. Serve immediately.
This recipe is from Camper Van Cooking by Claire Thomson and Matt Williamson (Quadrille, £20). Photography: Sam Folan.
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