Welsh Rarebit with Guinness

I've always been a fan of cheese on toast and as a teenager spent lots of time making different varieties; I used different cheeses, added lots of butter, fried it, baked it etc. Eventually after much experimentation I decided to look in a cook book.

What I found was a recipe for Welsh Rarebit, and its probably this recipe that has inspired my love for any foods with creamy cheese sauces.

Welsh Rarebit is one of those comfort foods that feels a little extravagant - while it is essentially cheese on toast, it has a decadent feel to it that transcends mere bread and cheese, and put me into a mindset of the Rich and Famous!

• 2 tablespoons of butter (or margarine) - butter adds a more decadent taste to it but is not as healthy.
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour (used to thicken) - this is not essential, but it definitely makes the texture of the dish far better.
• 1 teaspoon of mustard - use your own favorite here. I like a French Mustard, or sometimes a grain mustard to add more texture to the dish.
• 1 teaspoon honey (not necessary for the recipe, but adds a subtle sweetness) - you can also add half a teaspoon of brown sugar instead of honey.
• 1/2 cup milk - I tend to use full fat milk to give more substance to the meal, but you can replace with low fat milk.
• 1/2 cup Guinness (if you don't have Guinness, any stout will do) - note this makes the dish a non-vegetarian dish - see below for vegetarian stouts.
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated (you can use your favorite cheese) - I've used many different cheeses - Caerphilly cheese adds a very interesting flavor to this. Experiment with combinations of cheeses.
• Salt and pepper.

It should be noted that as you are cooking the Guinness, all the alcohol will burn away, this dish is therefore safe for kids.

• Melt butter and slowly stir in flour, ensuring no lumps form - be careful with this stage as it is very easy to burn the flour. Cook on a low heat until it turns slightly brown - this is a very light shade of brown.
• Removepan from heat and slowly mix in the milk - make sure the flour is fully blended with the milk and there are no lumps.
• Return to heat and stir gently until the liquid thickens - again be careful not to burn the liquid.
• Add mustard, honey and Guinness - stir gently for a few seconds to thoroughly mix.
• Cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes - stir often.
• Turn down the heat to lowest setting and add the cheese, gently stirring until melted - again be careful not to burn the mixture.
• Spread over toast and brown slightly under a grill - note you can oven bake at this point on a moderate heat for 10 minutes, but I always find this is better when toasted - it is a little messy though!

You can use tofu, or a different vegetable instead of the beef (try turnip) – the method is similar, although you won’t need to brown the vegetable.

Guinness is not suitable for vegetarians, you’d have to replace the Guinness with one of the stouts below:

• Alloa Stout - bottle
• Bell's Stout (Various)
• Black Isle Brewery Porter Stout
• Bridge of Allan's Glencoe Wild Oat Stout (bottled)
• Hopback Entire Stout
• Isle of Skye Oyster Stout (bottled)
• Linfit English Guineas Stout - bottle
• Cropton's Scorseby Stout (bottle)
• Dublin's Darcy's Dublin Stout
• Samuel Adams Stout (Various)
• Titanic Brewery Stout - bottle

This is nice garnished with a tomato. You can also add a small side salad, or even add a fried egg or two.