I bought a sandwich toaster a little while ago. It’s a dirt cheap, no name, supermarket brand that I thought would be good for the 12 year old to make an arvo tea toastie on.

I have been discovering other things apart from sangers you can cook on it though. First was pancakes. The 12 year old and friend were coming home alone and I wanted something easy (and not too messy) for them for arvo tea. So I made a pancake batter and tested it on the sandwich press. For some reason, it makes the most perfect, circular pancakes. Just pour on, wait until the batter bubbles and flip. Voila.

So then I started to experiment with other things. The sandwich press, it turns out is good for other things. Last night I grilled some witlof on it, then served with a little lemon and olive oil. I’ve grilled mango on it, with a sprinkle of palm sugar. I’ve crisped pancetta for a salad.  I remember my mum making sort of puff pastry apple turnovers on ours when we were kids.

The beauty of the sandwich grill is it’s mini-size. So efficient. So little cleaning up.

So do you have any sandwich toaster recipes you’d care to share?