We’re running on a different schedule in the house these days. Both kids now have half-day classes as the school year draws to a close. That means lunch is around 2.00 p.m. when the school bus drops them home. So, instead of cooking lunch for myself, I postpone breakfast until around 9.00 or 10.00 in the morning, eat a hearty brunch, then wait until the kids get home when we eat lunch together. This morning, I had this cheese and tomato sandwich. Not grilled but dipped in milk and egg then pan-fried like French toast. For added depth to the flavors, I topped the sliced tomatoes with some chopped fresh basil.
To make two cheese and tomato sandwiches, you will need four slices of bread (crusts cut off), plenty of cheese (I used Quickmelt), one tomato (sliced thinly into rings) some herbed salt (or salt and pepper, if herbed salt is not available), a teaspoonful of chopped fresh basil, an egg, about half a cup of milk and 2-3 tablespoonfuls of olive oil.
Beat the egg and milk together
Assemble the sandwiches. Lay two slices of bread on a plate. Arrange slices of cheese on top, followed by slices of tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little herbed salt followed by the chopped basil. How much salt depends on what kind of cheese you’re using. If using salty cheese, go easy on the salt. Press down the sandwiches together a little. Carefully dip both sides of the sandwiches in the egg-milk mixture then fry in the hot olive oil. Flip to brown the underside. Drain excess oil on absorbent paper towels. Cool for 2 minutes before cutting. They’re kinda soggy right off the frying pan but after 2 minutes or so, the crust turns crisp and they’re easier to handle.
Crepes and cheese
My family used to love pancakes. We’ve been pancake eaters for years until I discovered a very simple recipe for crepes at the back of a Maya pancake mix box. Since then, pancake mixes become crepes… oh, about four out of five times. We like experimenting with syrups to go with the crepes too. For the time I thinned a jar of strawberry jam with whole strawberries and poured the syrup over the crepes. My 13-year-old daughter often makes crepes these days.
Early this morning, since there was nothing to use for sandwich filling (a reminder that we need to go to the supermarket before the day ends), I decided to make some crepes for the kids’ bacon. After packing their lunchboxes, there was still enough batter to make a second batch of crepes. I made five more crepes, arranged them as you see in the photo, added a tablespoonful of Cheez Weez on top, put them in the warm oven until the cheese melted then gave a plate of cheese-topped crepes to my husband.