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Melba toast with lardo di Colonnata and Comté cheese
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 100g white bread
- 4 slices lardo di Colonnata (available from good Italian delis and online)
- 8 slices Comté cheese, cut into 5cm squares
- Sarawak pepper
Method
Lardo di Colonnata is from Tuscany. Made from pork fat, it comes in a thick rectangular slab: the top is covered in salt, black pepper, rosemary and garlic, while the lower part is the pork rind. Lardo is pinkish-white, and tastes very fresh, almost sweet.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ Gas 4. Slice the bread as thinly as possible. Cover each slice with a piece of lardo and a slice of Comté, then top with another slice of bread, as if you were making a sandwich.
Put the Melba ‘sandwiches’ onto a baking sheet and cover with baking parchment, then put another baking sheet on top of the parchment. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, take off the second baking sheet and the parchment, then cut the toasts to the shape required. Leave them on the baking sheet.
Preheat the grill. At the very last minute, just before serving, put another slice of Comté on top of each Melba toast and grill for2 minutes, or just long enough for the cheese to melt. Grind over some Sarawak pepper and serve the Melba toasts hot.
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