Today’s Sandwich: Open-Faced Toasted Mozzarella and Tomato (Homemade)

When you write a blog that features lots of photographs of sandwiches, they had better be mind-blowingly inventive. There’s no room for PB&J at From Away World Headquarters; back when we had all the time in the world, it was a cinch to whip up Veal Schnitzel-wiches with Garlic Butter or burn through an afternoon baking the perfect buns for Sloppy Joes.

However, when you find yourself in the middle of a move in Midcoast Maine in March, when your new house is little more than a system of tunnels winding through boxes and boxes of all of your worldly possessions, which are being systematically destroyed by the 14 month old that has just learned to manipulate objects higher than her head with zero regard for the physical consequences, you need to whip up something a little more basic. Something that represents the easiest possible strategy for getting melted mozzarella cheese into your stomach, where it belongs.

If you can’t order a pizza because you can’t find the phone because it’s buried under your vast collection of midcentury models of wooden ships co-mingled with 50 pairs of tiny baby sweatpants, this sandwich is a worthy substitute.

Open-Faced Toasted Mozzarella and Tomato
Makes two sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of your favorite multigrain bread
• 4 thick slices of mozzarella cheese
• 2 slices of tomato
• 1 slice white onion
• 1 scallion, sliced thin
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

Method:

Preheat broiler. Arrange both slices of bread on a baking sheet. Top each slice of bread with two slices of cheese, a slice of tomato, and a few rings from the slice of onion. Add salt and pepper, as well as red pepper flakes (optional) to taste. Broil until cheese melts and begins to brown. Remove from broiler, sprinkle with sliced scallion and serve.

Tagged as: cheese, mozzarella, sandwich, tomato

About the Author: Malcolm Bedell

My first memories of cooking start in Maine at six years old, when I wore a yellow rainslicker to avoid getting spattered by the bacon I was frying in a skillet. My interest in both Mexican cooking and recreating classic New England dishes from scratch developed while living in Mexico, on a steady diet of pork and habanero peppers. You can see more of my writing and photography online on Serious Eats, the Huffington Post, BlogHer, and Foodista, as well as in print for Downeast, Indulge, and Cigar Snob magazines.