PAT Gina introduced me to drunken goat cheese, and if you haven’t had it, you haven’t had cheese. (You can find it at Whole Foods and other fine food stores.) Drunken goat is semifirm and cured in red wine, so it has a maroon-colored skin. Flavorful and smooth, it goes great on a ripe-tomato sandwich. If you don’t have softened butter at the ready, a good shortcut is to spread plain mayonnaise on the outsides of the sandwiches instead. They’ll fry up just as crisp and golden as they will with butter.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6 to 8

　　Sixteen 1/2-inch-thick slices Pullman-style white bread, crusts removed

　　6 tablespoons butter, softened

　　8 ounces drunken goat cheese or other aged cheese, grated

　　Sun-dried-tomato mayonnaise (recipe follows)

　　

SUN-DRIED-TOMATO MAYO

1 cup mayonnaise

　　1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained

　　1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled

　　2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

　　Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

　　Dash of hot sauce, preferably Tabasco

　　(makes about 1 1/4 cups)

　　

Step 1

Heat a large skillet or a griddle over medium-low heat.

　　

Step 2

Place eight slices of bread on your work surface. Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Divide the cheese between the eight slices of bread. Spread the sun-dried mayo on the remaining eight slices of bread, and place on top of cheese slices, mayonnaise side down. Butter the top side of each sandwich. Cook the sandwiches, in batches, until the bread begins to turn golden brown and the cheese is starting to melt, about 5 minutes. Turn the sandwiches over with a spatula, and cook the other side, another 3 or 4 minutes more.

　　

Step 3

Remove the sandwiches from the pan, slice each into four triangles, and serve.

　　

SUN-DRIED-TOMATO MAYO

Step 4

Process the mayonnaise, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a food processor until smooth.

　　Reprinted with permission from The Neelys' Celebration Cookbook by Pat and Gina Nelly. Copyright © 2011 by Pat and Gina Nelly with Anna Volkwein. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.Pat and Gina Neely are restaurateurs, best-selling authors, popular speakers, and hosts of the Food Network hit series Down Home with the Neelys. They recently opened their first New York City restaurant, Neely's Barbecue Parlor. They live with their daughters in Memphis, where they enjoy cooking at home with family and friends.Ann Volkwein is a best-selling food and lifestyle author based in New York City and Austin, Texas. Her previous books include: The Arthur Avenue Cookbook, Chinatown New York, Mixt Greens (with Andrew Swallow), and, with Guy Fieri: Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives; More Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives; and Guy Fieri Food.