Grilled cheese toastie one of my favourite comfort foods
So, tosti/toastie/grilled cheese sandwich, call it what you will depending on where you are from, it is one of the ultimate comfort foods.
You're probably thinking that this is taking simple food too far, but this ticks all the boxes. If you want to make it a tad more complex then use the sour dough recipe and make your own bread.
Rather than using a toasted sandwich maker I "grill" it in a pan and keep turning it. The trick to a good tosti is good cheese that melts well, my favourite is either an aged gruyere or emmenthal. Once you have the cheese element sorted then it's up to you what you want to add to the mix. I like to add elements such as wild garlic, bacon bits, chives, spring onion or Parma ham, the combinations are limitless. I also like to smear the inside of the tosti with dijon which brings out the cheese flavour a bit more.
If you do use onion or garlic, I would advise frying it off first to take the rawness out of it and, once cooled, add it to the cheese. I find it best to grate the cheese, as it then melts easier, then mix in the onion and garlic before adding to the bread. Same goes for the bacon bits, just fry them off till they get crispy, let them cool, and then mix in with the grated cheese. If you're feeling decadent, hold back the fat from the bacon and use it to cook your tosti.
If you're going to make a tosti then don't hold back on the other elements. You have your bread, cheese and any additional fillings. So what next, you need butter! I like to coat the outside of the bread in butter to give it a rich flavour. The trick is to keep the pan at a low heat and add a small bit of olive or rapeseed oil so the butter doesn't burn when frying it.
If you want to go that little bit further and make your tosti a bit more luxurious, you can always dip it in beaten egg before frying. If you are going to do this then refrain from buttering the bread on the outside and just use the butter for frying instead.
Get toastin' !
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