Toasted cheese sandwich
Grilled cheese on toast - Welsh rarebit - is endlessly variable but virtually foolproof. Everyone has a tip for making theirs the best; it might be spreading the toast with grain mustard instead of the traditional English, or piling onion marmalade or chutney under the cheese. My mother topped hers with sliced tomato and I add salad to pretend it’s a healthy dish.
There are many ways of ringing the changes with cheese on toast. Apart from the flavour and melting qualities of different cheeses, add-ons can transform the dish.
My all-time favourite is probably golden buck: Cheddar is traditional but any mature hard British cheese flavoured with Worcestershire sauce and English mustard. Try this with grilled bacon or sweet cherry tomatoes with a shake of Tabasco.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 75g mature Cheddar or double Gloucester
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp English mustard powder
- 25g soft butter
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 2 thick slices country-style crusty bread
- Worcestershire sauce
- Chives
- Tabasco and brown ale
Method
- Grate the cheese. Place the egg yolk in a bowl and stir in the mustard. Add the cheese and butter and use a fork to mix thoroughly into a stiff paste.
- Quarter the tomatoes. Pre-heat the grill and toast the bread on one side. Dribble the un-toasted side with Worcestershire sauce and spread thickly with the cheese paste.
- Arrange on a foil-lined grill pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until puffy, golden and dribbling over the edge but soft and soufflé-like under the surface. Transfer to plates and make a tomato stripe across the length of the slice. Scatter with chives and, if you like, a dribble of Tabasco.
Please note: the image above is for decorative purposes only and is not an original photograph of the dish described.
This recipe was first published in the September 2008 edition of Saga Magazine.
Lindsey Bareham's website is www.lindseybareham.com