James Martin’s Welsh rarebit with bacon and chutney

“One of the greatest chefs of the modern era was Gary Rhodes. People really underestimate how good he was and how he revolutionised the food scene using top-quality UK produce,” says James Martin.

“One of his trademark dishes was a smoked haddock Welsh rarebit with confit tomatoes. Bettys Tea Room in York does a Welsh rarebit on toast with tomato chutney and it’s bloody delicious!”

Welsh rarebit with bacon and chutney

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

8 slices of unsmoked back bacon
50g butter
500g Cheddar, grated
1tbsp English mustard
1tsp Worcestershire sauce
1tsp Tabasco
3 egg yolks
2tbsps plain flour
50ml beer
50ml milk
4 slices of sourdough
1 jar Bettys (or other good-quality) tomato chutney

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180ºC fan.

2. Place the bacon and butter in a large, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan and roast for ten minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat a non-stick saucepan over a medium heat and add the cheese, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco and stir until melted. Beat in the egg yolks and flour and cook gently for a further two minutes, stirring. Whisk in the beer and milk and cook for five minutes until you have a thick, smooth sauce.

4. Toast the sourdough. Slide it underneath the bacon, top with the chutney, then spoon the cheese sauce all over and bake for five minutes until deep golden and bubbly.

James Martin’s Saturday Morning by James Martin is published by Quadrille, priced £25.00. Photography by Dan Jones. Available November 6