On a long, yawning Saturday, when you’ve nothing better to do than go for a swim or crack open a new book, the delicious and almighty Cheesewich stakes its culinary claim. A rather simple affair with bread, cheddar, garlic and butter, the Cheesewich exists wholly in dedication to my all-time favorite summer produce (see how deftly I avoided the fruit-vegetable argument?)… tomato.
There are a few tests to ensure that you have the right tomato for a Cheesewich. If your tomato does not fulfill all of these requirements, I say drop it into a homemade marinara and leave my precious Cheesewich be. It cannot abide a lesser specimen.
First, the tomato must utterly overtake your palm when you pick it up. If it is the size of a tangerine, laugh in its face and toss it aside. Second, the tomato must be so richly crimson that when the first slice falls off its shiny face you helplessly gasp in delight. Third, the tomato must have been gathered from your own garden or bought from a roadside stand or farmer’s market.
Once you have the crucial item in hand, nothing will make better, more immediate use of it than a Cheesewich. I don’t know what your family calls it, but we Randalls (and now Boones) dubbed this sucker a Cheesewich, and since my dad is the number-one Cheesewich chef in the world, I’m taking his word for it.
Cheesewich
(makes two)
4 slices of good bread
1 tablespoon of butter
Garlic salt
2 handfuls of cheddar
A Perfect Tomato
Brush 2 slices of bread with the melted butter and generously sprinkle garlic salt on top. Then generously sprinkle cheddar cheese on the two naked slices. Bake the bread, topping-side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet in a 375-degree oven (or broil) for about 5 minutes, until cheese is fully melted and bubbling in a mouth-watering fashion. Remove, slide onto two plates, and mound slices of fresh tomato on the cheesy side. Top with the buttery side, and eat immediately.
Sidenote: Keep a pile of napkins on hand for this one.
There are a few tests to ensure that you have the right tomato for a Cheesewich. If your tomato does not fulfill all of these requirements, I say drop it into a homemade marinara and leave my precious Cheesewich be. It cannot abide a lesser specimen.
First, the tomato must utterly overtake your palm when you pick it up. If it is the size of a tangerine, laugh in its face and toss it aside. Second, the tomato must be so richly crimson that when the first slice falls off its shiny face you helplessly gasp in delight. Third, the tomato must have been gathered from your own garden or bought from a roadside stand or farmer’s market.
Once you have the crucial item in hand, nothing will make better, more immediate use of it than a Cheesewich. I don’t know what your family calls it, but we Randalls (and now Boones) dubbed this sucker a Cheesewich, and since my dad is the number-one Cheesewich chef in the world, I’m taking his word for it.
Cheesewich
(makes two)
4 slices of good bread
1 tablespoon of butter
Garlic salt
2 handfuls of cheddar
A Perfect Tomato
Brush 2 slices of bread with the melted butter and generously sprinkle garlic salt on top. Then generously sprinkle cheddar cheese on the two naked slices. Bake the bread, topping-side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet in a 375-degree oven (or broil) for about 5 minutes, until cheese is fully melted and bubbling in a mouth-watering fashion. Remove, slide onto two plates, and mound slices of fresh tomato on the cheesy side. Top with the buttery side, and eat immediately.
Sidenote: Keep a pile of napkins on hand for this one.
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