The task had been set, I had visited three of London’s best cheese toastie hotspots. I had done my research, tasted the toasties and I was going to try to use this knowledge to create the perfect one.
You may be asking yourself, but why all of this effort for a cheese toastie? It’s because it’s never just a cheese toastie. It’s so much more, it’s comfort and just what all of us need as the temperature starts to dip outside.
Image by Harry Bourner
You have to check out the video below to experience my passion towards this issue and hopefully it will urge you to get a load of cheese in and get creative.
I used various elements from the three toasties which I had tasted in the capital at Melt Room, Pickle & Toast and Kappacasein and constructed my recipe.
Here it goes:
Ingredients:
100g cheddar cheese,
100g Montgomery cheddar
50g Gauda
50g mystery smokey Polish cheese
ALL GRATED
2 teaspoons of Italian herbs
25g of butter
Half a red onion
4 spring onions
1 garlic clove
2 slices of fresh farmhouse bread
Method:
- Start it all off by buttering both slices of bread on each side.
- Fry off the onions and garlic so that it softens up a bit.
- Lay the bread out and load on 3/4 of the cheese, as well as the onion to the sandwich. Save the rest for the frying pan afterwards. Go easy on your choice of smokey cheese as it may become a bit overpowering if you’re not careful.
- Warm up non-stick frying pan on a low to medium heat and fry off until the bread is golden and the cheese is oozing on both sides.
- With the same heat, throw on a layer of cheese which you have saved and sprinkle with the Italian herb mix. When it’s bubbling, place the toastie on top of the bubbling cheese.
- After about 1 minute when the cheese all starts to crisp up, lift and repeat the grating process. When it’s all sealed off in a delicious crispy layer, remove from the pan.
- Make sure you let the molten cheese rest for around two minutes, then add your HP sauce and enjoy.
Words: Harry Bourner | Subbing: Étienne Fermie