Francesinha

Ingredients

• 8 thick slices white sandwich bread
• 2 thin sirloin steaks, about 150g each
• 4 slices cooked ham
• 2 fresh pork sausages (linguica fresca or chipolata)
• 1 smoked linguica or chorizo, thinly sliced
• 300g mild melting cheese, thinly sliced
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 330ml lager
• 100ml ruby port
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 400ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp piri piri sauce
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 30g butter
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 600g chips, to serve

Before you cook

• Finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot.
• Slice the smoked linguica thinly on the diagonal.
• Beat the steaks lightly with a rolling pin until they are an even 1cm thick, then season them.
• Slice the cheese thinly enough to drape over the sandwiches.
• Slake the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of cold water.

Steps

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion, garlic and carrot for 8 minutes until soft.
2. Stir in the tomato puree and the bay leaf and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the brandy and port and let them reduce for 3 minutes.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, lager, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and piri piri.
5. Simmer the sauce uncovered for 35 minutes, stirring now and then.
6. Fish out the bay leaf and blend the sauce smooth with a stick blender.
7. Stir in the slaked cornflour and simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce coats a spoon but still pours freely, then season and keep it hot.
8. Melt the butter in a frying pan over high heat and sear the steaks for 2 minutes a side.
9. Lift the steaks out and fry the fresh sausages in the same pan for 8 minutes until cooked through, then split them lengthways.
10. Toast the bread slices until lightly golden.
11. Heat the grill to high.
12. Build each sandwich on an ovenproof plate: a slice of toast, then ham, then split sausage, then sliced smoked linguica, then half a steak, then a second slice of toast.
13. Drape the cheese over the top and down all four sides so the sandwich is completely covered.
14. Grill the sandwiches for 4 minutes until the cheese melts and bubbles.
15. Fry the eggs in a little oil until the whites are set but the yolks still run.
16. Ladle the hot sauce generously over and around each sandwich.
17. Slide a fried egg on top of each one and serve with chips piled around the edge of the plate.