Toasted Sandwich Filling Ideas

Sandwiches are great. They are easy, quick, and even if you can't cook, you can put a sandwich together! But even better (in my humble opinion) is the toasted sandwich.

There are several ways to make a toasted sandwich, but by far the easiest is to use an electric sandwich toaster. These come in many varieties, but I like the sandwich press type because you can put any kind of bread, rolls or baguettes into them. These are the ones they often use in cafes to make paninis. I invested in one of these years ago and it is still going strong many, many sandwiches later.

If you don't have a sandwich toaster, you can make a toasted sandwich under the grill or in a frying or griddle pan. You can also buy handy little bags which allow you to assemble your sandwich and put it into your toaster.

If you own a George Foreman grill or similar, this is also perfect for toasting your sandwiches.

It is all too easy to keep making the same old sandwiches again and again. For me, the fillings I keep going back to are cheese on its own, cheese and marmite or cheese and ham. All lovely sandwiches, but a bit boring maybe.

So here are a few other ideas for savoury toasted sandwiches. So if you are making a cheese toasted sandwich, why not try adding a few of these fillings for a change?

• sliced fresh tomatoes
• peppers
• sweetcorn
• cooked chicken or turkey
• flaked tuna
• olives
• sundried tomatoes
• mushrooms
• sliced onions

A word of warning - I once tried putting baked beans in a toasted sandwich. Take it from me, it was a bad idea. Unbearably messy, took me ages to get the sandwich toaster clean.

How about some ideas which don't use cheese? Well, you could make a breakfast sandwich with any or all of these: bacon, sliced sausages, scrambled eggs, a fried egg, or even a slice of black pudding.

Or what about a sweet filling? Sliced bananas with either brown sugar or some chocolate spread work well. Or try apple and brown sugar, that also works really well. Most decadent of all, just put some good quality chocolate between two slices of bread and toast until the chocolate is melted.

If you buy some ciabatta bread you can make cafe-style paninis in your sandwich toaster very easily. If you don't have a sandwich toaster, you won't get quite the same effect I don't think, but I must admit I haven't tried.

If you want to try a panini, why not try one of the following?

• brie and cranberry sauce
• mozzarella with spinach, and strips of roasted red peppers
• mozzarella, ham and tomatoes
• roasted red peppers, gruyere and ham