An Easy Cheesy Sandwich

One of the best sandwiches is a grilled cheese.Nothing beats warm, gooey cheddar or Swiss on white , ray or whole wheat bread.Yet suppose you can amp it up a notch?How can you do that ?By adding Gallic flair. David Tanis decided to give American classic a French twist in his column City Kitchen in yesterday's New York Time Dining section.Mention a French grilled cheese to most people and they'll immediately think of a croque Monsieur.This is true but there's a slight difference between the two.Croques usually have ham underneath the cheese and are most often fried in butter.A tar tine is more of a pizza.Take a hunky slice of a rustic bread like ciambatta or a rounded Fremch loaf.Top it with savory vegetables, then a good French cheese and brown under a broiler until the cheese bubbles and serve.Line pizza it too can be served with a nice salad along with a good glass of wine.Another good thing about the tar tine is that it can be heated or cooked without any butter or oil.Both Croques Monsiuers and their counterparts the chicken filled Croque Madame have to be fried in a well buttered frying pan. Unlike the croque, a tar tine recipe can be varied to suit the eater"s tastes.Mr Tanis" recipe has red and yellow peppers along with sun dried tomato and olives.His topping options are fresh goat cheese or Camenbert.He also recommends walnuts and olives topped with a sharp Roquefort.There's also the suggestion of coppacola with Taleggio.Of course you could make it more like a healthier croque (sans buttery taste).Use any kind of sliced Ham and top with Gruyere if you want a more Gallic sandwich or lean towards the English with a slice of cheddar.If you make this last, you can vary it with some apple slices between the ham and cheese.You can also try pears and apples broiled under a layer of creamy St Paulin cheese.You can also create a pissaladerie with caramelized onions mixed with anchovies sprinkled with the pepper laced Crottin Poivre a Parmesan like hard cheese.Be creative.There are an infinite variety of fillings and topping you can experiment with whe you make your tar tine. Nothing beats a hot gooey grilled cheese.Ratchet it up a notch by creating a tasty bistro style meal.Combine your favorite cheese with your favorite toppings to create a new kind of cheese sandwich.