Thursday, February 16, 2006

Cheese sandwich, anyone?

Triggered by Pete Wells' article on foodblogs in the March issue of an American food magazine, today is the official Cheese Sandwich Day, where foodbloggers post their favourite cheese sandwich ideas.

My contribution to this foodie event is a simple Scandinavian- influenced open sandwich with beetroot* and goat's cheese that I've been making recently, where the sweetness of the beet and sharpness of the cheese complement each other perfectly.

We don't really do the "sandwiched sandwich" in the Nordic countries at all. The Danes are famous for their opulent open sandwiches that feature on the famous smørgåsbord, whereas the Estonians often serve small simple open sandwiches as part of a coffee table - or then decide to go all festive with a fancy sandwich cake.

Beetroot and goat's cheese sandwich
(Kitsejuustu-peedivõileib)



sour rye bread
olive oil
boiled beetroot, sliced
goat cheese, sliced (Chevré or something similar. I used Somerset Capricorn cheese)

Cut the rye bread into thickish slices, drizzle with olive oil. Cover with beetroot and goat's cheese slices.
Grill in a pre-heated oven until the cheese is golden and slightly melted.
Decorate with a (lemon) thyme sprig and enjoy.

* This particular cheese sandwich was also chosen because I had some beets left over from my Paper Chef # 15 entry.

Read what the legendary American food writer Ruth Reichl thought of the British cheese sandwich

UPDATE 17.11.2006: Teadmiseks eesti lugejaile, et kitsejuustu võib siinkohal edukalt asendada nt suluguni juustuga (Kehras tehakse, turgudel üsna vabalt saadaval).

14 comments:

Journal Actif said...

Now I'm hungry! I whish I could just grab that open-face yummy looking sandwich from the screen.

Alanna Kellogg said...

I've always wondered why Scandinavians, with their marvelous bread, don't INSIST on two-sliced sandwiches! Yours reminds me why. We want TWO!

Antti said...

Albeit being a Scandinavian myself, I've never associated beetroot with sandwiches - but pretty much with everything else. Last month I spent a few weeks in Australia, and was totally surprised to find beetroot between all kinds of bread there: be it a lunch sandwich or a hamburger in a restaurant. When I saw two neat beetroot slices in my camel burger, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...

Anne said...

Yum, that looks really good. I love beetroot and goat cheese - especially with the addition of thyme. I opted for a much simpler cheese sandwich for today though - but still good :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, 'true blue' Aussies love beetroot in their hamburgers & sandwiches. Cheddar cheese & beetroot sandwiches were a favourite of mine years ago. And, I agree, that 2 slices of bread do stop the important contents sliding out, or off.

K and S said...

this looks really good and simple!

sailu said...

That's a good looking cheese sandwich.

Kalyn Denny said...

Pille, your cheese sandwiches look wonderful. Happy cheese sandwich day!

Anonymous said...

never had beetroot on my sandwich
it tickles me sometime to see bottled beetroot
its so abundant here that i clean, wash boil my own... happy eating

kali orexi.. maybe i should try this one indeed!

Stephanie said...

That looks heavenly! I like beets and yes, in Australia, beets are everywhere. One of the best Aussie burgers I had was actually in Germany though (odd, I know) where we had beets with cheese & patty in the burger as well as beet chips.

Elizabeth said...

Beets and goatcheese really do go well together, don't they? And arugula is excellent added into that mix.

Have you tried sharp cheddar cheese and pickled beet sandwiches? That's another great combination especially if there is a nice hint of clove in the pickle.

-Elizabeth

Pille said...

Zoubida - mmm. As grabbing one from the screen is impossible (yet), you can always recreate the dish in the comfort of your own kitchen:)

AK - lol - my first boyfriend always helped himself to slices of cheese and ham from the table, saying "why waste the good bread":) I guess the Estonian and other Nordic and Eastern European bread is more dense in texture, and it might be too much to bite through when doubled up? Maybe?

Antti - I hadn't had beetroot sandwiches before either (we use it mostly in salads and soups in Estonia), but I'll be definitely using it in sandwiches from now on as well. Oh, and try the Australian beetroot cake, of course!

Anne - I don't have a sandwich toaster here, otherwise I might have gone for the simplest and most comforting cheese sandwich myself.

Pene - thanks for the Australian input! But surely you've had plenty of "Estonian sandwiches" now, and the contents stay firmly in place, as we don't pile them up? "Einevõileib" or the "meal sandwich" is another matter, but then we eat it with fork&knife of course.

Kat & Satochi - thank you for your nice words.

Sailu - thank you for visiting my blog!

Kalyn - well, all the credit for inspiring this Cheese Sandwich Day goes to you, of course, and thanks for a wonderful round-up!

Matt - thanks for popping by (and hope it's ok to include you in my blogroll). I'll stick to müsli then:)

Sha - yep, you should! I have a feeling that you'd like it (considering you like beetroot). Maybe you can swap beetroot with thinly sliced feta cheese and use oregano instead of thyme?

MM - thanks! I must remember to pop over (or down?) to Australia to check out the prevalence of beetroot myself.
PS Well done with two (!!!) cheese sandwiches!

Elizabeth - welcome to my blog! I can imagine trying a beetroot & goat's cheese & rocket salad indeed - thanks for the tip. And sharp cheddar with pickled beetroot? There's another combo to try!

Antti said...

Pille, sorry to hear you've caught a cold. Hope you'll get better soon!

Pille said...

Paz - there were so many tempting cheese sandwiches featured recently, so we could indeed turn into proper cheese bread blogs and blog about them only:)

Antti - thanks for your kind words. Two days in bed seem to have helped a lot:)