Where we go a little bit deeper into who, what, why, where and when we Relish
When I'm in the kitchen doing the kind of work that allows your mind to wander - cracking dozens of eggs for egg mix, reducing a mountain of parsley into grassy green sprinkle, peeling bags of carrots - I have endless ideas for this blog. In my mind I draft pages of informative, relatable and witty stories that everyone would devour. Now that I'm sitting here with the typing skills of a chicken, I cannot come up with a single word. This paragraph alone has taken half an hour. Not the beginning of the illustrious food writing career I imagine developing for myself...
(that is my totally reasonable retirement plan - be paid to travel, eat and write about all the deliciousness and the trash)
If you've landed on this page with no idea what Relish is or who I am, then I suppose that is a reasonable place to begin. Relish is a cafe and catering business in Highfields QLD. I have heard from very reliable source (it was me) Relish is the best cafe in all the world, by far and the catering is beyond compare. I am Hayley, the chef and co owner. Together with Joy J we own and run Relish together. This mash up of words is completely my own doing so If you find it disagreeable, offensive or stupid, that's all on me and Joy deserves none of your wrath.
One day I will share our origin story in detail. Only crazy people willingly go into hospitality, despite knowing much better.
So we will start with one of the most important food topics you could possibly discuss. The toasted sandwich. If you do not adore a toastie, maybe this is not the story for you. Also, you are wrong and should take a good hard look at your life and the terrible choices you make.
We are talking about the basics here - bread with two or three fillings that has heat applied to the outside.
Very simple and for something so simple you can get some really awful outcomes. Before life tortured me with being unable to consume gluten AND dairy (a travesty blog for another day, when you know me better and are more accustomed to horrific oversharing) I purchased a Ham Cheese Tomato Toastie from a questionable but successful retailer thinking 'How bad could it be?'
Let me count the ways
1 - the thinnest excuse for sliced bread imaginable
2 - they forgot the tomato, probably a blessing
3- something lolly pink, slimy and meat? flavoured
4- something vaguely yellow and disturbingly opaque
5- toasted without butter on the outside, literally nothing. Bone dry
6- the sandwich press must have been broken so they used a hydraulic press, creating an incredibly hard exterior
The result was just as you could imagine. And it was $11.50. Fun.
It was unspoken when we started Relish, that every single item we sold had to be the best version of itself. I think we hit that most of the time. Don't get me wrong, there have been MISTAKES but we look for our issues and we strive to improve.
Which is where our Toastie comes in. In the beginning we were using a really traditional sourdough, it was a great bread. But it wasn't great in two sandwiched, grilled layers. This became apparent when more than one guest asked for a steak knife to cut it in half. I think they really wanted to ask for a chainsaw. So we sourced a new sourdough - a larger, thicker but softer slice and a crust that doesn't leave you requiring gum repair surgery.
A toastie is nothing without its fillings and as we use local legends Bannock Brae ham, there is no way to improve on the pork element. Two types of cheese encase the ham, cheddar because its lovely and american for its buttery melty-ness. We started with one slice, because one slice of cheese is enough. But to get the 'OMG this is actually delicious' response you really need to double up.
The outside is buttered liberally and then the perfect package is placed on the flat top grill and sizzled until the cheese inside is melted, the outsides are golden brown and the edges are nudging toward almost burnt. Cut into two triangles (you get more sandwich this way. Not logical, but very true)
The addition of onion/tomato/mustard ect is purely personal preference and I don't judge you on that (probably)
Its a meal that can be a snack or breakfast, lunch or dinner. On its own or with a side of chips or dipped into soup. You can eat it in the car, on the couch or tucked into bed. What more could you ask for?
I'm really not sure the direction this blog will go. The initial concept was to write about Relish and share recipes, but I'm thinking I might wander off occasionally. If we keep it in the realm of 'food' that may be closer to the mark. I told myself it would be strictly every week too, same day and time but I can barely write that with a straight face.
Go make a toastie, you won't regret it.
xoxo
Hayley