The 90's Throwback Toastie

Bring it back.

Okay. Some of you will be old enough to remember the cafe focaccia explosion of the 90s, when bakeries would deliver giant slabs of the spongey bread and sandwich hands and cooks would saw it in half and into squares readying it for filling with all the comforting, melty, piquant things their patrons desired. And some of you will not be. Both things are okay.

For this week’s recipe I thought I would revisit the glory days of the cafe Focaccia and highly recommend that everybody consider giving this delicious standard a reboot.

You don’t have to use focaccia. You can use Turkish bread if that’s easier to get hold of. Or you can use focaccia. Even make your own slab of pillowy airy goodness and then use that for your toastie in what would be termed the Ultimate FoccaciaTM revisit.

This week I alternated between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian (salami) version of this excellent and satisfying delight. Here’s the skinny on it …

Recipe first, then photos …

I sliced a zucchini and sizzled it with olive oil, white wine vinegar (was out of red! you could also use balsamic for maximum 90s vibes!) and dried Italian herbs. When softened and golden and unctious, I repeated with sliced mushrooms and some jarred red peppers. I sizzled each veg on its own in a heavy based pan while listening to Lizzo. Honestly, I recommend doing this and having a stash of these veggies in the fridge. I prefer to panfry as they don’t burn as easily as they might in the oven, although in my cafe days we used to oven roast giant trays of veg because it was more practical and efficient.

Next, I halved a square of Turkish bread and spread one half with kasundi and the other with pesto. Then I piled on the veggies, cheese (I had Swiss in the fridge, but bocconcini would have been excellent too!), semi-dried tomatoes, fresh tomato and baby spinach. Avocado would have been ace too, but I did not have that.

Next I wiped the heavy based pan cleanish and put the sandwich in over a low heat. I put another heavy frypan on top of the sandwich to squash it down (tip stolen from Pamela Adlon!) I let it take its time to sizzle and melt, then I flipped it and waited again. Once it was all melty and fabulous, I sliced it into two triangles and plated it with a tumble of green leaves (also very 90s!)

Then I ate it all up.

The end.

Love to you and your favourites,

xx Pip

If you fancy, buy me a coffee —>  https://ko-fi.com/piplincolne

Postscript: The next day I did it again, but added salami and piled in more fillings. It was excellent.