I just smiled, and made me a Vegemite sandwich...

This is my take on an Australian kid-food tradition, the "Cheesymite." It's roughly analogous to the classic American grilled cheese sandwich, only the Antipodeans like to spread some Vegemite on the bread before slapping on the cheese. Now around these parts, we're famously afraid of Vegemite, and while you might not want to eat the stuff straight out of the jar with a spoon, it's not as scary as you might think. I was feeling a bit brave the other day at Freddy's and picked up a jar, and oh man, am I glad I did! Here's what I did with it...


First, I toasted a slice of some multigrain bread I baked a couple days ago. I rubbed the toasted bread with some garlic, and applied a very thin layer of the Vegemite (trust me, a little of this stuff goes a long way). To that I added a layer of Applegate Farms Black Forest ham, sprinkled on some shredded Beecher's Flagship cheese from Seattle, and set it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Then I sprinkled on some chiffonaded watercress, and had myself one hell of a sammy! The Vegemite made itself known, but did not overpower the rest of the players. Its malty flavor paired nicely with the rye and barley in the bread, and added a salty foil to the cheese. You wouldn't necessarily detect it if you didn't know it was there, but it would definitely be noticeable in its absence if you did... Overall, a very successful addition to an otherwise merely fancy grilled cheese sandwich...