Recipe - OG Chicken & Crisp Butty

Putting crisps in your sandwich is the epitome of British cuisine...

This is a recipe from Episode 7 of the 'How to eat alone' podcast with Ali Kakande, founder of Caribeats, a Hackney based organisation providing meals for members of the Caribbean community experiencing food hardship. You can listen to the episode here.

Making a chicken and crisp sandwich. Images by Beca B Jones.

Ali, as I find out, is a sandwich purist and likes to eat a good OG chicken butty when she's on her own. Adding a packet crisps into the mix is a game changer and reminds me very much of crisp sandwiches in my pack lunch at school, so this is an homage to that. I should also say that, though Episode 7 touches on culturally diverse food, putting crisps in your sandwiches is, ironically, the absolute epitome of British cuisine. I've made this butty a bit fancier than Ali suggests because I couldn't help myself - I know she mentions her love for plain crisps, but honestly, I would definitely play around with different crisp flavours to see what works best with the chicken!

Time: 5 minutes (if you are roasting the chicken, add minimum 35 mins)

Faff Level: 3

Makes: Exactly enough for one human’s meal

Plant Based Diets: Sorry guys, this isn't plant based in any way because if I take the chicken out, it’s just a crisp and lettuce sandwich (which might be alright, now I come to think of it…) I think you'll have to find yourself another sandwich, or take a look at this cheese toastie recipes, which have plant based options. 

Ingredients:

2 slices of sourdough bread (if you do anything, please make sure it's sourdough. I will explain why some other time).

Add some veg if you like? I do a couple of baby toms or half an avo, or a tiny bit of shredded lettuce.

A packet of crisps. The weirder the flavour, the better the sandwich.

For the chicken

Marinade 1 chicken thigh (skin on, always!) in a glug of olive oil, 2 x finely chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper and a sprig of rosemary. Roast for 35 minutes on 200 oC, making sure you start with skin side down. 15 minutes into roasting, turn the chicken skin side up and sprinkle with salt for that extra crispiness. 

For the lemon mustard mayo 

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

Juice and zest of half a lemon

Crack of black pepper

1 teaspoon of mustard 

(or none of the above, you can just use plain mayo, it's easier and it's quicker and there's nothing wrong with it, I just like to be fancy)

Directions:

I’m not going to tell you how to make a sandwich. Put the ingredients in some bread, INCLUDING the crisps. Voila. Sandwich of dreams. Enjoy.