Reader Tip: Tomato Sandwich with "Bacony" Cheese ♥

Many thanks to self-described "faithful reader" Betty who recently shared a favorite tomato sandwich. She melts provolone cheese until crispy-crusty, then pairs it with tomato for a vegetarian BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) sandwich.

Betty adopted the technique from an old vegetarian cookbook by Nicki and David Goldbeck who call the crisp cheese discs "cheeson" ~ get it? bacon? cheeson?

It didn't taste like bacon to me but the sandwich was very good. Thank you, Betty, for the great tip!!

KITCHEN NOTES ... To my taste, anyway, the cheeson doesn't taste good by itself. But once tucked into a sandwich, I half-wished I'd made more ... for calories' sake, good thing not!

TOMATO SANDWICH with "BACONY" CHEESE
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Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes
Serves 1

Provolone cheese, about 1/4" thick (need to cut with a knife, not a cheese blade)

Toasted bread
Mayo
Good tomatoes, sliced
Salt & pepper

Place a slice of cheese in a non-stick skillet on medium. (The cheese will spread just a bit. If you're melting more than one piece, keep them from touching each for they're hard to separate.) The cheese will start to sizzle and melt but don't move it until you begin to see the edges firm up. With a spatula, carefully check the underside to see if it's browning. (If it's still in the melting phase, it'll glom up and won't create a disc.) Once it's browned, turn over. Once both sides are brown, drop onto a paper towel to remove some of the excess grease. Top a slice of toasted bread with a schmear of mayo, then the cheese and tomatoes. Season to taste.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Bread, cheese vary too much for a good estimate. Needless to say, it's not "diet" food.

(c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade