Garlic bread club sandwich
The club sandwich came back into my life recently via my friend Paul Bentley, the chef at Casa in Perth. On my last visit, I rocked up to the restaurant a tiny bit tipsy with a bag of supermarket ingredients and presented it to Paul. After a short while, the greatest club sandwich I’ve ever had appeared on the table. Featuring layer upon layer of thinly sliced chicken, crispy bacon, drippy egg, and chiffonnade lettuce in green goddess dressing, it was a triumph.
A few attempts to recreate that golden moment has led me to this sandwich. I’ve switched his green goddess for a delicious peppery mayo, and fried the bread in garlic butter because why not? I’ve layered grilled chicken, cold sliced turkey and crispy bacon, but add or subtract as you please. The runny-yolked egg is an absolute must, though. It brings the whole sandwich together. Frilly toothpicks optional, but highly recommended.
Ingredients
BRINED CHICKEN BREAST
50g (about 3 tbsp) salt
1 tsp brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, smashed
2 slices lemon
3-4 sprigs thyme
1 large chicken breast, skinless
PEPPER MAYONNAISE
½ cup Japanese mayonnaise or other whole-egg mayonnaise
1 tsp black peppercorns, lightly crushed
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
SANDWICH AND FILLINGS
4 slices streaky bacon
2 eggs
30g-45g garlic butter (shop-bought, or combine 45g of softened salted butter with 3-4 minced garlic cloves)
6 slices white bread, crusts removed
6 slices high-melt cheese (such as burger cheese)
1 gem lettuce, shredded
sliced pickled jalapeno to serve, optional
100g turkey breast slices
½ tomato, thinly sliced
½ ripe avocado, thinly sliced
dill pickles and chips to serve
Method
Step 1
To brine the chicken, combine the salt, sugar and 2 cups of cold water and stir until completely dissolved. Add the garlic, lemon and thyme and refrigerate. Slice the chicken breast horizontally into two thin slices, then submerge them in the brine for 30 minutes. Remove from the brine, pat dry and set aside.
Step 2
To make the pepper mayonnaise, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Step 3
To prepare the sandwich, start by cooking the bacon. Place the bacon in a cold frying pan over medium heat without oil. Allow the fat to render and fry the bacon to a crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside on a tray covered with paper towels. Leave some of the bacon fat in the pan, and set the rest aside for use later.
Step 4
Using the same pan, turn the heat to high, and sear the slices of brined chicken breast until completely cooked through, 3-4 minutes. Remove them from the pan and set aside with the bacon.
Step 5
Pour the rest of the reserved bacon fat into the pan and fry the eggs over easy (cooked on one side, then flipped and cooked briefly on the other side, leaving the yolks runny), then remove them from the pan and set aside.
Step 6
To make the garlic bread, melt a little of the garlic butter in the pan and fry the bread, two slices at a time, on both sides until golden. Add a little more garlic butter with each batch. Turn off the heat, then place a slice of cheese on top of each piece of garlic bread to melt. If you prefer, toast the bread and spread each slice with garlic butter.
Step 7
Mix the shredded lettuce with a tablespoon of the pepper mayonnaise and the pickled jalapenos in a medium bowl.
Step 8
To assemble the sandwich, place two garlic bread slices on a chopping board, cheese-side up, and top each with the chicken, bacon and some of the dressed lettuce. Place another slice of bread on top of each, cheese-side up again, and top with a fried egg, turkey, tomato slices and avocado. Drizzle with a little more pepper mayo, if you like, then place the last slice of bread on top, cheese-side down, to close.
Step 9
Carefully cut the sandwiches into triangles (it helps to use toothpicks here to hold them together) and serve with dill pickles and chips.
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Rosheen Kaul is the former head chef of Melbourne’s Etta, author of the cookbook Chinese-ish, and a Good Food recipe columnist.From our partners
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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/recipes/garlic-bread-club-sandwich-20250320-p5ll3q.html