Maryann's recipe: Welsh rarebit & Leek grilled cheese sandwich
The Welsh love of baked cheese - a "widespread stereotype of Welsh food", per Carwyn Graves - is fascinating
When we first started Wright’s we pretty much wanted to be a food store first and an eating place a distant second. I didn’t turn out that way naturally, but that was the plan.
The notion we had was to offer just a few really good sandwiches, a couple of them hot and the rarebit was the first to be piloted. It seemed to make sense.
We made a pretty classic rarebit mix, as you’ll see, and then experimented with chilling it down so it could be sliced to order, whacked in between some of our own ciabatta with some fried leek and then grilled in butter.
We have never used anything but Hafod cheddar in this sandwich. It wouldn’t be the same without it.
- 4 tbsp stout
- 1/2 tbsp English mustard powder
- 180 g butter
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1kg Hafod cheddar, grated
- 4 eggs
- Put the stout and mustard powder into a saucepan over a medium heat and make a roux to cook out the mustard. Add the butter and melt. Add the Worcestershire sauce, lower the heat before adding the cheese and finally stirring in the eggs. Bring together until it looks like a thick cheese sauce.
- Set in a Tupperware or lined loaf tin.
- Using a ciabatta loaf, sandwich together with some lightly cooked leeks.
- Butter the outside of the sandwich then cook on a lightly oiled griddle pan on alternate sides until golden.
- You can serve with or without nduja, a spreadable chorizo, which you can squish in the middle and cook in the same way. Some folks like a dollop of Tomato Catsup on the side…
Illustration: Leigh Sinclair