Cheese on toast

Two thickish slices of wholemeal bread, thinnish slices of Sainsbury's gouda/emmenthal-like cheese whose name I've forgotten, honey roast ham, semi-dried tomatoes in olive oil, Andy's fiery green tomato and chilli chutney

Cheese on toast was the first 'meal' I learnt how to prepare (after Shreddies with a tablespoon of dark muscovado sugar and half a pint of skimmed milk, and Shreddies with skimmed milk and a generous drop of full-fat Ribena - but I'm not sure that these count). It was also the only meal I knew how to make for many years, so I made it more times than I can remember. I have a feeling that I may have copied my Dad: if even Dad can make cheese on toast, then surely I can. I got it down to something of a fine art, though only using the regular contents of my Mum's cupboards.

It's the sort of meal that I think Charles Arrowby in Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea would be proud of - it uses whatever bits and bobs are left in the fridge and the bread bin.  I'm not sure I entirely go along with this comment of Arrowby's (I spend a lot of time thinking about the food I eat), but I like it nonetheless:

... eating is so pleasant one should even try to suppress thought.  Of course reading and thinking are important but, my God, food is important too.  How fortunate we are to be food consuming animals.  Every meal should be a treat and one ought to bless every day which brings with it a good digestion and the precious gift of hunger.

Nigel Slater says (and who am I to disagree?):

Cheese is the supreme snacking ingredient.  Who hasn't hacked off a chunk of cheese to kill a hunger pang?  Or even scoffed the entire block in a moment of supreme, gluttonous laziness?  The joy of cheese is partly how little you need to do with it in order to make a satisfying supper, snack or savoury.  A lump of cheese is the best friend of the ravenous.

The classic cheese on toast, a la me, went something like this: take two slices of Sainsbury's thick sliced wholemeal bread; spread one side delicately with Flora; put under hot grill until golden; meanwhile, chop half a small onion quite finely, take thin slices of mature cheddar cheese using one of those slicey things, and perhaps (though this was a late development) thinly slice a tomato; turn the golden toast, and put the other side under the grill for a minute or two - watch it steam, and think how you're avoiding soggy toast - but don't let it colour; take the toast out, spread onion and tomato (if applicable) on ungolden side; add slices of cheese (try to make sure that the cheese covers every available space on the surface of the toast so it dribbles slightly down the sides); add sprinkling of mixed herbs and a quick crunch of salt and pepper, and a shake or two of dried parmesan cheese; maybe add a few drops of worcestershire sauce; put back under the grill (and this is the important bit) until the cheese had thoroughly melted, and gone a little brown in patches, but while it's all still nice and juicy.

Transfer to a plate with perhaps a few slices of cucumber or some olives and eat with oily fingers that will taste cheese-and-oniony for the rest of the evening. I'd probably say that a beer, a glass of orange juice, or perhaps some Yop would suit it too.

So that's how I used to do it, and it served me pretty well for a number of years. Now, I don't have the same ingredients in the cupboard, so cheese on toast is a bit more varied. I made a lovely lunch yesterday with the ingredients set out above using the same old techniques, but replacing Flora (I've realised that I really don't like it) with some of the olive oil from the sun-dried tomatoes (they were the sort that are often called 'sun blush', though in this case Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Semi-Dried), and adding a bit of Andy's excellent chutney. I don't bother with the herbs (I think I only added them because they make it feel like 'real' cooking - I'm not sure they're really necessary) or the salt (the cheese is salty enough). The ham just needed eating up - I ripped it up and put it straight onto the toast, under the chutney, tomato and cheese. I'm also a bit less precious about covering the toast right to the edges with topping - I've realised that I like the crispy charred bits of toast around the edges too.  As Nigel Slater says:

the marriage of slightly burned toast and molten cheese is one of life's great pleasures.

Sometimes (though not on this occasion), I think a drizzle of chilli oil, some basil, some tinned tuna, thin slices of salami, sliced mushrooms, or some passata are all worthy additions, at which point you're basically making a pizza without the base. My favourite combination still has to be with onions though. These days I'll slice them and fry them in some butter or olive oil until they're a little soft before adding them to the toast, and I still think it's probably best with a few slices of strong cheddar.

Comments

[Le Poulet Noir]

The addition of tuna is a fine idea, although I suspect that the dish graduates from cheese toastie to "tuna melt". I recommend buttered toast topped with two layers.
In layer one: tuna mayonnaise with spring onions, quite a lot of lemon juice and a pinch of paprika or chilli powder.
In layer two: thickly sliced medium cheddar.
Grill it till the cheese melts and grind pepper on top whilst pretending to be an annoying Italian waiter unnecessarily interrupting a meal.

[Peter]

Hmm. That does sound good. Lemon juice and paprika sound like excellent additions - something with a bit of bite to counteract the oily cheese.

Along similarly fishy lines, I think Nigel Slater has a lovely recipe involving smoked mackerel mashed with a bit of double cream, mustard, and some grated cheddar and piled onto toast.

Incidentally, as I write this, I am eating grilled ciabatta (slightly burnt because I wasn't watching), topped with freshly sliced salami, a little finely grated unidentified cheese (something fairly mild today), sun blush tomatoes and black pepper. Remarkably similar to my last one, in fact (we've got many of the same ingredients in the fridge).

[Teeni Amateur]

well.. it's like I thought!