Full English Breakfast Shooter’s Sandwich by Max Halley - London restaurant recipes

Gavin Hanly 18 March 2021

Max Halley is the man behind one of the very best sandwich shops in London (and our personal favourite), Max's Sandwich Shop in Stroud Green. it is an absolute must-visit for anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of all things between sliced bread.

He's already had one successful book - Max's Sandwich Book - and now he's launching another that could not be more timely: Max's Picnic Book. If you're planning a festival of alfresco for the month of April, this will be a mandatory part of your arsenal.

For a preview of what's inside the book, we present one hell of a breakfast sandwich...

Full English Breakfast Shooter’s Sandwich by Max Halley

Makes enough for 4 hungry breakfasters.

Be warned: this one is a waiting game, but the reward is worth the wait.

Ingredients:

12 rashers smoked streaky bacon
8 pork sausages
8 hash browns
Rapeseed (canola) oil we need, for frying
400 g (14 oz) mushrooms, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, grated
1 teaspoon salt
Juice of ½ lemon
1 medium round crusty loaf
6 free-range eggs
2 large beefheart tomatoes, sliced into rounds
Relish or ketchup, to serve (optional)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 220°C (430°F/gas 8) and line a couple of trays with foil.
Boil the eggs for 7 minutes.
Lay out the bacon, sausages and hash browns on the baking trays, then cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Check the bacon and turn it if needs be. Return the trays to the oven and keep cooking until the bacon is nice and brown and starting to crisp, about 5 minutes, then remove and set aside on a plate. Turn the sausages and hash browns and keep cooking for a further 10 minutes until golden brown and delicious.
Heat a frying pan until it is smoking hot, then pour in the oil. Add the mushrooms, settling them into a single layer and leaving them alone for a minute to get some colour. Toss them and then push into a single layer again and leave for a full minute to get more colour. Keep doing this until the mushrooms are browning nicely. At this point, add the garlic and salt and toss. As soon as you can smell garlic, remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice. Leave to one side to cool.
Cut the top off your loaf, about 2.5 cm (1 in) below the top. Using a small knife, or your fists, remove most of the inside of the loaf.
Now start to build up your layers in your hollowed-out loaf: go your own way, but mushrooms is a nice place to start, perhaps followed by bacon, then hash browns, sausages, tomatoes and then the eggs (thinly sliced). Push the layers down and place the lid on.
Tear off a couple of large sheets of baking parchment and a couple of even larger sheets of foil. Lay the parchment inside the foil and then wrap the shooter tightly.
Put the whole thing into a container, place a weight on top and leave in the fridge overnight.
Next day, unwrap your shooter, take a serrated knife and cut yourself a wedge.

Max's Picnic Book by Max Halley

Irreverent, eccentric, Max's Picnic Book is the follow-up to the Sunday Times Bestseller, Max's Sandwich Book.

Both an ode to the art of eating outdoors, and an entertaining, frivolous reinvention of it, Max and Ben will first redefine what the picnic is, and celebrate its true potential, before creating 16 themed menus. Including ingenious hacks - think flavoured salts for dipping eggs and soft-serve with a shot of espresso - as well as twists on familiar favourites, this book about how and why we should picnic.

Interpreting the ways in which we can eat outdoors through the eyes of their picnicking heroes, such as Hunter S Thompson, Mary Berry and Snoop Dogg, the reader will be left with a broadened perception of what a picnic truly is.

Buy a copy on Amazon