Welsh Rarebit Toasts with Farmhouse Cheddar, Ale Mustard and Roasted Tomatoes

Heat the oven to 400F. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and a little salt, spread on a tray, and roast 18 to 20 minutes until they slump and their skins split. Set aside and leave the broiler element to heat.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 thick slices sourdough or crusty country bread
• 10 oz mature farmhouse cheddar, coarsely grated
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown ale or stout
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tsp English mustard powder
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 lb ripe cherry tomatoes on the vine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp snipped fresh chives
• Cracked black pepper and a pinch of cayenne

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400F. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and a little salt, spread on a tray, and roast 18 to 20 minutes until they slump and their skins split. Set aside and leave the broiler element to heat.
2. Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, scatter in the flour, and cook the roux for 2 minutes, stirring, until it smells biscuity but has taken on no color.
3. Pour in the ale in a thin stream, whisking hard. It will seize and then loosen. Follow with the milk and cook 2 minutes until thick and glossy.
4. Take the pan off the heat and add the grated cheddar in three handfuls, stirring until each is fully melted before the next goes in. Rushing this makes the sauce grainy.
5. Beat in the mustard powder, Worcestershire, cayenne and plenty of black pepper, then the egg yolk. Do not return it to direct heat once the yolk is in.
6. Spread the mixture onto a plate and refrigerate 20 minutes. Cooled, it firms into a paste thick enough to hold its shape on the bread, which is what gives rarebit its blistered top rather than a puddle.
7. Toast the bread on both sides, then spread each slice thickly with the cooled cheese paste, taking it right to the crust so the edges catch.
8. Broil 3 to 4 minutes, watching constantly, until the surface is bubbling and mottled dark brown in patches.
9. Cut each slice into three fingers, top with the roasted tomatoes, shower with chives, and serve while the cheese is still molten.
10. Rarebit is a study in what a cheese sauce becomes when you stop treating it as a sauce: enriched with ale and a yolk, chilled to a spreadable paste, then driven hard under a broiler until it blisters. The name is an eighteenth-century English joke at Welsh expense, but the dish was claimed and perfected in Wales regardless. Roasted late-summer tomatoes are the modern addition that earns its place, their acidity cutting straight through all that cheddar.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 470 kcal
• Protein: 21g
• Fat: 29g
• Carbohydrates: 29g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 5g
• Sodium: 720mg