Call it what you will, an oversized Crostini or an Americanized Smørrebrød, the open face toasted or broiled sandwich can be as simple or complex as you wish and typically can be prepped with ingredients found in the refrigerator. The simplest of open face sandwiches that most of us are familiar with is the broiled open face cheese sandwich which has coated the bottom of more toaster ovens with melted cheese than can be numbered.
Broiled Feta Cheese with Sliced Tomatoes on Toasted Bread
Recently on a Saturday afternoon somehow the time had flown and we were at the magical hour where lunch is long past, but it is way too many hours until dinner. You are hungry, but know that if you eat something more akin to a lunch versus a snack then your appetite for dinner will be ruined.
I had a nice sliced load of multi grain bread from the bakery at the grocery store and knew that I wanted something more than sliced cheese broiled on a piece of bread. A little more searching in the refrigerator I found some Roma tomatoes, crumbled Feta cheese and a container of chunked Amish blue cheese. I asked Marah which cheese she wanted on her open face sandwich and she selected the Feta. I decided to go with the Blue Cheese.
One of the things that I have learned over the years is that you should first toast the bread prior to making a broiled open face sandwich.
Into the toaster oven went two slices of the multi grain sliced bread.
While the bread was toasting, I sliced some tomatoes.
liced Roma Tomatoes on Toasted Multi Grain Bread
Once the bread had been toasted, the tomatoes were placed on the toast and then the Feta and Blue Cheese were liberally topped onto the sliced tomatoes. Then with a few cranks of the black pepper mill, the open face sandwiches were ready to be broiled.
Preparing an Open Face Sandwich with Crumbled Cheese (Blue Cheese – front, Feta – back) with Sliced Tomatoes on Toasted Bread
The open face sandwiches were placed back into the toaster oven and broiled for about seven minutes until the cheese had begun to melt.
Broiled Blue Cheese with Sliced Tomatoes on Toasted Bread
Out came the broiled open face sandwiches and they were the perfect answer to a snack that needed to be more than just a snack. The ease in which these broiled open face sandwiches were made compared to the flavor of the melted Feta and Blue Cheese combined with the sliced tomatoes and fresh ground black pepper made these open face sandwiches more than just a plain snack, but something worthy of making specifically because the taste was so good.