Post nightshift breakfast blt

Serves 1 seriously tired chef  

You can vary the ingredients of this sandwich to taste. For example, you could add sliced buffalo mozzarella, sliced avocado or roasted and peeled red pepper quarters, all the above quite depending on your mood. Alas and quite frankly, after pulling a 16 hour overnight shift in the kitchen, you're lucky the bacon is even cooked.

Tabasco to taste (optional)

6 slices unsmoked back bacon

2 soft floury rolls

Butter or mayonnaise

2 fat ripe tomatoes, sliced

A handful of baby gem leaves

Preheat a nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Trim the bacon of excess fat. Once the pan is hot, add 1 tblsp oil, followed by as much bacon as you can fit in the pan. Fry briskly for about 2 minutes on each side or until lightly coloured and beginning to turn crispy. The cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the bacon. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven while you continue to cook the remaining bacon with a further tablespoon of oil. 

Lightly spread the bottom half of each roll with butter or mayonnaise and cover with the sliced and seasoned tomatoes, then 3 slices of bacon followed by the gem leaves. A hit of tabasco at this stage isn't necessarily a bad thing by the way, as is a twist of black pepper.

Serve immediately, with plenty of paper napkins and an appropriate beverage for the time of day.