The perfect egg and watercress sandwiches

The home-made mayonnaise in this recipe can be substituted for 4 tbsp shop-bought mayo if you’re short on time. We love yuzu mayo for this recipe, available online at www.thewasabicompany.co.uk

Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 8 minutes Makes: 12 small triangular sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 eggs

• Good handful watercress, roughly chopped

• 6 thin slices of fresh white bread

• Salt and white pepper

• 2 tbsp soft salted butter

For the home-made mayonnaise

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tsp white wine vinegar

• ½ tsp Dijon mustard

• 50-100ml rapeseed oil

• Salt to taste

Method

Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 6.5 minutes. Drain and run cold water over the eggs until they have completely cooled.

Next make your mayonnaise. Put the egg yolk in the bowl of a food processor and pulse. Add in the mustard and white wine vinegar along with a pinch of salt then blend together. Next begin adding oil a few drops at a time, keeping the processor running the whole time and making sure each bit of oil is fully incorporated before adding the next. As you blend in more oil and the mayo starts to thicken, you can start adding it in very slightly larger quantities until you are steadily adding it in a thin stream. Keep adding oil until the desired consistency is reached (thick and holds its shape fairly well), although you must be careful not to add too much oil or the mayonnaise will split. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Peel the eggs, and mash them with a fork. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the mayo, then season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Butter your slices of bread then spread thickly with the egg mixture before topping with plenty of chopped watercress. Add on the top slice of bread before cutting each sandwich into four neat triangles. You can remove the crusts or not as you prefer!