For Christmas 2007, Wendie bought me a torch – one of those you use in making desserts such as creme brulee. I had seen one on TV and I wanted it desperately. When I got it, I started manically torching everything, hoping to discover new uses and develop new dishes. As it turned out, most things don’t do well being torched. Roast beef… not so good. Vegetables…nope. Cornflakes… wouldn’t recommend it. The one thing that actually has its moments is cheese.
With the torch I can melt the surface of the cheese, and when biting into it you get a a feeling of warmth on your upper lip, while the rest of the bite is cold. Not entirely unpleasant. For a cheese sandwich, this requires a huge amount of torching action, due to the surface that needs to be melted, but for appetizers it works. After two years I still haven’t made creme brulee, but I’ve managed to construct this appetizer, which in my opinion is perfect for all those torches out there collecting dust. Enjoy.
Appetizer recipe
- 1 cracker (we used multigrain)
- 1 tsp roquefort cheese
- 1 tsp muffaletta spread
- 1/2 tsp shredded pecorino romano cheese
Start with the cracker, and add the roquefort, muffaletta spread. Spread out the shredded pecorino romano cheese on top. Start your torch, and gently torch the pecorino cheese until it melts and starts to take on a little color as shown in the pictures. The end result is a delicious cheese cracker that is warm on top and chilled on the inside, where the different tastes literally melts in your mouth.
Note: Muffaletta is a term used for a special sandwich (As far as we can gather from a web search), but our local deli sells a muffaletta spread, which we used here. It’s a mixture of olives, peppers and oils that is great for topping (as here) or as a spread.
