The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich
When I was a kid, my Mom would make grilled cheese sandwiches for my lunch from Wonder Bread and Kraft American Cheese. You know, the one the size of a brick. I remember enjoying them very much, along with tomato or chicken noodle soup. Campbell’s, of course.
However, things have changed since back in the day. When I went to make my grilled cheese sandwich recently, I found, to my surprise, that I had 12 different kinds of cheese in my fridge. Every drawer and shelf was populated. There was:
1. Grated mozzarella
2. Grated sharp cheddar. My kid uses them to make a quick quesadilla.
3. Blue Cheese
4. Queso Fresco from the Chorizo & White Bean Soup I posted about.
5. Monterey Jack
6. Boursin with Garlic & Fine Herbs, thanks to Chef Jesse at Baleen
7. Philadelphia Cream Cheese
8. Whole Milk Ricotta
9. Comte
10. Emmenthaler
11. Gruyere
12. Parmigiano Reggiano
I decided to go with the Gruyere, which is so nutty and umami-ish. I put a layer of cheese on a sour dough slice, then some deli ham I needed to use up and a bit of Dalmatia Fig Spread to balance the salty cheese and ham. I spread the outside of the bread with mayonnaise (instead of butter) and grilled it, covered, over medium low heat.
And the result was really messy and sticky and absolutely fantastic.
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The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Bread slices, with a dense crumb
Gruyere cheese
Ham slices
Dalmatia Fig Spread
Mayonnaise
Build your sandwich with the amount of cheese and ham that makes you happy. Use a conservative amount of Fig Spread, as it melts and runs out all over everything. Spread the outside of the bread slices with a thin layer of mayo. Brown in a covered non-stick pan over medium low heat. Check after 2 minutes to make sure it is not too brown. Lower the heat if it is browning too fast, before the cheese is melting. Turn and brown the other side. Let cool until warm to the touch, as the Fig Spread is really hot. Enjoy.
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Welcome to Cook & Be Merry
Hello! My name is Lynne Hemer, and I am a woman obsessed with food and cooking, in search of new, unusual, exotic, and sublime ingredients and recipes. I love reading cookbooks, taking cooking classes, going to restaurants, photographing food, and blogging about it all! I hope you enjoy my website as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Feel free to contact me at lynne@cookandbemerry.com
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This is sooooo mouthwatering!
Amazing, i’m from dalmatia, it’s so strange to see this fig spread, didn’t know there was a producer of this outside of croatia 🙂 gives me hope of opening an etsy shop with our products one day, we have tons of stuff like this.
I’ve never tried a combination of grilled cheese and figs though, must be interesting.
Sometimes there’s nothing better but taking something simple and making it great. I saw a post earlier this evening doing the same thing with potato salad, and I have to say, a good grilled cheese and potato salad meal suddenly sounds like a terrific idea.
I adore a good grilled cheese, and like you, I have quite a variety of cheeses to choose from! Thanks for sharing with me. My breakfast tastes a bit better as I imagine how tasty this sandwich must be! I hope you are having a beautiful day.
Hmmm, that could not be one of the rejected photos, could it? I don’t eat ham, but that is pure eye candy.
P.S. I meant eye candy in a good way!
[…] Lynne, author of Cook & Be Merry By Chef Louise Mellor | Published February 3, 2012 "The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich" by Lynne at Cook & Be […]
Thought you might like to know that a restaurant is using one of your above images for their on-line menu http://southparksaloon.com/menu/
I do not really care if a sandwich is messy or sticky as long as it is tasty. This really looks so delicious. These ingredients are just amazing and thinking about all these in a sandwich makes me crave for one. This is just an amazing find. Thank you for this recipe. Please keep on sharing!