Grown Up Grilled Cheese

I love a good  grilled cheese because it hits all the right notes – salty, crunchy, greasy, and sometimes even sweet.

Many Americans have eaten grilled cheese since they were young.  In my youth, I used to think they were called girled cheese.  But a grown up grilled cheese is a little more mature than the American cheese on white bread sandwich of my youth…not that there’s anything wrong with the classic.

I have three rules for grown up grilled cheese:

• Use the right bread.  A boule or rounded Italian brick oven loaf sliced thin is perfect.
• Press the bread while it’s cooking.  You’re basically making it into a panini, using a heavy skillet or saucepan as a modified panini press.
• Stuff it with quality ingredients.

Here are some of my favorite grown up grilled cheese combinations:

• Avocado and cheddar – 1/3 to 1/2 of a ripe avocado mashed into the bread with the back of a fork, a sprinkle of salt, and maybe some red pepper flakes
• Truffle – Trader Joe’s has a great, chewy truffle cheese – add a tablespoon of truffle oil to the butter in the pan
• Prosciutto, manchego, and fig jam
• Chicken pesto – breaded chicken cutlet, pesto, and fresh mozzarella, and maybe a tablespoon or two of freshly grated parm
• Chicken parm – breaded chicken cutlet, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and maybe a tablespoon or two of freshly grated parm
• Roast beef, cheddar, and caramelized onions
• Patty melt – hamburger patty, Swiss cheese, and caramelized onions

1. Assemble your selected ingredients between two slices of bread.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter on medium low in a heavy skillet large enough to fit your bread.
3. Place the sandwich in the melted butter and put a heavy skillet or saucepan large enough to cover the sandwich on top.  This will add weight and press the sandwich.
4. Cook until browned on bottom, approximately 3 minutes.  You may need to adjust the heat to prevent the bread from burning, while giving enough time for the cheese to begin to melt.
5. Remove the sandwich and place it on a plate while you melt an additional 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet.
6. Flip the sandwich, press it with the heavy skillet or saucepan, and brown the other side for an additional 3 minutes or until done.

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