Smoked mackerel eggy bread and crispy bacon

Preheat the oven to 120C/gas ½.

Peel the skin from the mackerel fillets then break them half. Carefully remove all the bones, which run halfway down the fillet, in the centre. If the thought of eating the grey-brown part of the fish bothers you then remove it, but it's really not necessary. Using your fingers, shred the flesh apart to give a sort of mashed fish mixture.

Spread the mashed mackerel thinly over all 8 slices of bread and lay the sliced tomatoes on 4 of these. Then press the remaining 4 slices of bread firmly on top with the mackerel facing inwards.

Whisk the eggs with the cream and a pinch of salt then one by one dip the mackerel sandwiches in it and coat on both sides, placing on a tray as you do them. Pour any excess eggy mixture over the sandwiches.

Heat a frying pan, ideally one large enough to take two sandwiches at once. Add either 50g butter or 3 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil and when that's hot add two sandwiches and cook over a moderate heat until the bread has turned golden. Gently flip them over and cook on the other side, then remove to a tray and place in the oven to keep warm. Cook the remaining sandwiches.

Wipe the pan out and add a teaspoon of butter or oil and fry the bacon until crisp.

To serve, put the eggy bread on warm plates. Toss the watercress with the radish quarters and sit this on top then place the bacon on top of that. Dollop on a few teaspoons of the aioli and serve.

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