Bacon and Egg Rolls with Homemade BBQ Sauce

While I'm feeling generous  .... Here's another recipe from my cookbook 'Grub - Favourite Food Memories'.  It is easy to make excellent Bacon and Egg sangers at home when you know how to make your own quick and easy BBQ sauce !

serves 4

BARBECUE SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small brown onion, chopped
11/2 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrated purée)
1 tablespoon golden syrup  ( you can use maple too)
11/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
11/2 teaspoons mustard powder

6 long, thin slices of good-quality bacon
olive oil/ butter, for pan-frying
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large handfuls of baby rocket (arugula) leaves or baby English spinach
4 soft white bread rolls, split & buttered ( or you can spread with good quality mayo or aioli)


To make the barbecue sauce, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until lightly golden. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a few seconds, then add the golden syrup, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, paprika, mustard powder and 80 ml (21/2 fl oz/ 1/3 cup) water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until thickened. Season to taste and set aside.

Cut the bacon into half-lengths. Brush a large frying pan with a little olive oil if your bacon is particularly lean ( this would never happen in my house - we like it streaky!) and place over high heat. Add the bacon and cook, turning occasionally, for 4–5 minutes, or until cooked to your liking.
When the bacon is almost ready, heat some butter in a  large, heavy-based frying pan over medium–high heat and carefully crack the eggs into the pan, keeping them well spaced so they don’t run into each other (use egg rings if you prefer). Fry the eggs until cooked to your liking — if you like your yolks runny like I do, especially when served in a roll, don’t flip the egg, just cook it without turning for 2–3 minutes, or until the white is fully set and the yolk is still a little wobbly.

Put some baby salad leaves on the bottom half of each bread roll and top each one with three pieces of bacon, an egg and a dollop of the barbecue sauce. Top with the bread roll lids and serve immediately. This one is best eaten with your hands!

*Image above by the seriously lovely Photographer Steve Brown and must not be replicated without permission.

Grub was published in 2007  by Murdoch Books and is now out of print. The rights to text and images have reverted to Jane Lawson.