On Sunday’s we would have a late lazy breakfast out on the patio. Mum and I would make toasted cheese with variations for the individual peculiarities of the family members.
The basic recipe was this:
Ingredients:
- Nice plain sliced bread (not toasted first, but you could try this as a variation)
- Butter
- Grated Cheese - lots
- Hot English Mustard (of course you can use any mustard, but for dad it had to be the hot English mustard)
Optional / Variations:
- Tomatoes - For dad - these had to be extremely thinly sliced - if too thick then the toast will be too wet. There have been excursions dedicated to the finding of a sharp medium sized knife which would cut the tomatoes the best way.
- Banana’s - for my baby sister, but on their own on the toast, not with cheese or tomatoes
- Mayonnaise - as a thin underlay instead of butter perhaps
- Rashers of bacon
Method:
- Pre-heat oven - we are baking / roasting here, not grilling as the underside needs to “toast” as well.
- Butter the Bread and place on a buttered or slightly oiled baking tray - there are differences of opinion here as to what achieved the best result. Father was of the opinion that there had to be lashings of butter on both sides of the bread and the oven temperature hot enough to effectively “fry” the bread to a nice toasty crispness and No he did not have a cholesterol problem like the rest of us.
- Thinly smear some mustard on top of the butter - to taste.
- Heap the cheese on top - be sure to cover all of the bread as any uncovered areas will burn. If you put the bread slices close enough the cheese will melt and all stick together without going too much onto the tray.
- Bake until the cheese is bubbling and the toast is toasted underneath (use a spatula to lift a piece to check)
- Eat immediately!
Options:
- If doing bananas, then skip the mustard and use some mayonnaise instead. banana’s should be fairly thinly sliced - try longitudinally for a change. They should still cover the bread as much as possible.
- Tomatoes: again variations of opinion here. Some prefer the tomatoes under the cheese, but this can make the toast a bit soggy. Dad preferred his tomato on top.
- Bacon: distribute around the toast on the baking tray. Again Dad’s favourite - it adds to the likelihood that the bread will toast nicely underneath as the grease will cause a kind of fried bread thing to happen.
- My husband has developed his own variation of all this.
- Pre-toast the bread (then you can just grill and it’s quicker).
- Mustard and Mayo (no butter)
- Grated Carrot is the primary ingredient with just some slice of cheese on top
- Under the carrot could be onions, tomatoes, thin slice of avocado, salami