Recipe: Peter Gilmore’s Indulgent Cheese Toast for Late-Night Suppers

We treasure our kids while they’re young, but as Quay executive chef Peter Gilmore knows well, there are plenty of advantages once they’re all grown up. “My sons are older now, they’re in their early twenties,” he says “The fact that they’re adults, we can share a nip of whisky and have a nice lunch together – it’s very nice.”

The combination of family, food and whisky is at the heart of three recipes Gilmore, as brand ambassador for Tasmania’s LARK Distillery, has designed for home cooks especially for Father’s Day. The recipes are designed to be served alongside whisky – perhaps throw in a personalised bottle of LARK’s Classic Cask, or three whiskies and a drinking glass from LARK's Signature Collection Tasting Flight as part of a memorable gift for Dad.

While the chef is known for complex show-stoppers like the legendary snow egg, Gilmore’s menu for Dad’s day is easy to make for your own pop at home. “I think it’s nice to do something that’s simple but quality, and really enjoy the day and not give yourself too much work,” he says.

Gilmore’s late-night, knife-and-fork cheese on toast recipe is simple enough, but the results don’t lack for special-day luxury. Cheese being the star of Gilmore’s show, he’s using three of his favourites: Comté, a hard sheep’s cheese, and a soft double-cream. “The Comté is the melted, lovely flavoured cheese that’s going to be really oozy,” he says. “Then it can be any really nice double-cream, white-moulded cheese that just melts with the residual heat.” Really, though, the cheese choice can be left to fatherly preference. “Just go out and buy a couple of nice pieces of cheese and just have fun with it.”

Alongside the cheese, Gilmore adds crunchy toasted walnuts, a sweet drizzle of honey and, for maximum richness, fresh truffle. “Right now it’s truffle season, so it’s a little bit indulgent to go out and buy a nice truffle and make some really yummy cheese on toast,” he says. A tip on sourcing truffles, too: you’ll need to head to a specialty store or provedore like Simon Johnson in Sydney. And, if you can’t find truffles, forge ahead anyway. “[Truffle] is a little indulgent extra – the toasted cheese sandwich by itself is delicious with the honey and the walnuts.”

The last piece of the puzzle – and star of the Father’s Day show – is a whisky pairing. Here, Gilmore matches his upscale toastie with LARK’s Classic Cask single-malt whisky. “The wood cask that it’s matured in, it just has those classic flavours, almost a bit like Christmas cake, that are really delicious,” he says. “And it lends itself to a lot of different food combinations, but I think as [a] late-night dram with the toasted cheese sandwich, it’s just perfect – I couldn’t find a better match for it.”

Recipe: Peter Gilmore’s cheese and truffle toast

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 2–3 mins

Ingredients:

4 thick slices of your favourite sourdough bread
100g Comté or Gruyère
100g hard sheep’s or goat’s cheese (such as Ossau Iraty or goat’s cheese gouda)
100g Brillat Savarin cheese (triple- or double-cream-style white-mould cheese)
50g walnuts
30g whole truffle
30g your favourite honey

Method:

Lightly toast the sourdough bread.

Grate the Comté and hard sheep’s milk cheese on a coarse grater. Combine the two cheeses together.

Preheat your grill then generously top each slice of sourdough with the combined grated cheeses. Place under the grill until the cheese is melted.

Remove from the grill, then place a 25g slice of Brillat Savarin in the middle of each toast. This will gently melt from the residual heat of the grilled cheese.

Top each slice with 7 or 8 walnut halves. Finely shave the truffle and divide between the slices, then drizzle half a teaspoon of honey over each slice of cheesy toast.

Serve immediately with a knife and fork, and a nip of your favourite LARK whisky – Gilmore’s go-to is the Classic Cask.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with LARK Distillery. Find more recipe inspiration – and whisky pairings – on the LARK website to help create new memories this Father’s Day.