So, now Christmas is well and truly behind us, says chef Ben Stevens, and we’re all full to the brim of roasts and leftovers, I thought I’d offer up a different sort of treat. This is my favourite sandwich.

When I was at catering college, a fellow student taught me a valuable lesson. There are sandwiches and there are SANDWICHES. The following is one of the latter, in my opinion at least.

Toasted ham, bacon crisp and fried egg sandwich.

You will only ever need one of these. Don’t try to eat two. And feel free to tweak the ingredients to suit what you like or what you have in the fridge. This isn’t a fancy sandwich, just a really tasty, crunchy, gooey, messy one. Enjoy

Start by slowly frying an egg. I like mine to be with a just-done white and a fully runny yolk. While it’s cooking, lightly toast two slices of plain white bread.

Butter (I LOVE salted butter) the toast. Add some mustard, for this sandwich I prefer wholegrain, but go with your favourite. Then add a few layers of whatever ham you have. Nicer ham is nice, thin ham is good. But it doesn’t matter too much.

Open a good qaulity bag of bacon flavour crisps and lay as many as you can on top of the ham. A good pile is important. Once you’re satisfied with the stability of your crisp pile, season the egg with loads of black pepper and turn it yolk side down on top of the crisps. The jagged edges should puncture the yolk and cause the egg to spread itself around your sandwich. Add the top piece of toast and squash, gently.

Have plenty of kitchen roll handy when eating this, but enjoy its messiness. Food should be fun.

Happy New Year