How to Make Cheese Toast in Your Office Kitchen

As a defiant response to Sad Desk Lunches, the Food52 team works to keep our midday meals both interesting and pretty. Each week, we'll be sharing our happiest desk lunches -- and we want to see yours, too.

Today: Put your office's toaster oven to good use -- make yourself some cheese toast.

Your office kitchen likely has a toaster oven, painted Pollock-style with burnt remnants of work lunches past. It is the dark horse of the entire room -- and cheese toast is the best thing it can do for you. Because if there is any sort of hole in your heart or unidentifiable yearning in your soul, melted cheese and crispy bread will fill it 99% of the time, spackling the nooks and crannies of your ennui.

Cheese toast -- simply a slice of toast topped with melted, just-browned cheese -- will solve all your problems.

First, the toast: I like a thick slice of sourdough, which maintains a layer of chew between its crispy faces. Avoid overly hole-y loaves, as cheese will leak through their cracks. Once it's golden, layer it with cheese that melts, then pop it back into your mini-oven until it bubbles and browns. If you'd like to embellish, swipe your bread with mayo or mustard first.

More: If you're working from home, take a few extra minutes and make this Ooey Gooey Toasted Cheese. With mayo.

The result is an open-faced grilled cheese to cure what ails you. For lunch, pair it with a big salad, and you can even call it a balanced meal. But it also makes a mean snack.

Photo by James Ransom