Tofu Guacamole Grilled Cheese

Although it was July 4th weekend, and I did create a patriotic grilled cheese for Memorial Day, I stayed away from the USA this weekend and instead went with Tofu. Tofu is extremely American, right? Ever since sometime last week, I got it in my head that this week’s grilled cheese main ingredient would be tofu and I went with it. Oddly enough though, there aren’t many tofu grilled cheese recipes out there so I was stuck googling tofu-only recipes. I had originally thought I would fry the tofu, but I may do a tofu encore next week and try that then. This week, however, I went with guacamole covered tofu.

ingredients:

• Tofu
• Guacamole
• Portabello Mushroom
• Guggisburg Butter Cheese
• Kaiser Roll

 the cheese: guggisburg butter

Normally in this section, I educate everyone, including myself, on the cheese of the evening. However, for this cheese, I had some difficulty finding information. It appears, based on the results from my various Google searches, that this Guggisburg Butter Cheese is actually an Amish Butter Cheese, or at least is in a similar family. This is what eHow.com has to say about Amish Butter Cheese and how it relates to tonight’s Guggisburg (Guggisberg?) Butter Cheese.

Amish butter cheese is a rich, creamy addition to any snack or meal. This unique cheese may take some searching to find, but the full buttery flavor is well worth it. Traditionally made by the Amish, this cheese has a wide variety of uses.

Amish butter cheese is a member of the Guggisberg family. Unlike its predecessor, butterkase, Amish butter cheese does not have a rind. The cheese is pale yellow in color with a rich, creamy and buttery flavor. This is a cow’s milk cheese. Amish butter cheese is generally made from cows with no artificial hormones. The Amish process of cheese-making does not include any artificial flavors, ingredients or preservatives.

You learn something new everyday, huh? I had never knew any of this before. This is the exact reason why I began focusing on the cheese, prior to writing about the sandwich. Anyway, I thought tonight’s cheese, whatever it really is, was fantastic. It was good on the sandwich, but it really stood out during my pre-sandwich tasting. As you would assume with a butter cheese, it was soft and smooth and just melted in your mouth. However, there was a bit of a sour’ish taste to it that actually seemed to work. I would suggest that you try this type of cheese, but I am not totally sure I have  classified it 100% correctly. (The sous chef says that she knows for certain that this is in fact an Amish Butter cheese. I would tend to believe her.)

thoughts

In the guacamole I placed the following ingredients:

• Avacado
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Cippolini Onion
• Red Onion
• Cilantro
• Red Chili Pepper
• Salt
• Pepper

Of course, when you make your own guacamole, make sure to taste as you go, making sure that you add enough of each ingredient. Tonight’s guacamole, after a few attempts, tasted really good. It was perfectly seasoned and did have a decent kick to it.

I sliced and placed the tofu on a dish, and then spread the guacamole all over it. I should have, and will do so next time, seasoned the tofu at least with salt and pepper prior to spreading, giving it some sort of flavor. I was hoping that the tofu would gain some of the flavors of the guacamole but I am not sure if that actually happened. Another option would have been to let the tofu sit, covered in guacamole for a long period of time, but since it was dinner time, the grilled cheese had to be cooked right then.

In addition to the tofu and guacamole, portabello mushroom caps were the other major ingredient. I lightly grilled these in a pan with olive oil and some salt and that was it. In the grilled cheese, they did somewhat get lost, but when I could taste them, they were really delicious. I could have just eaten these by themselves and I would have been more than happy.

the grilled cheese:

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tofu guacamole grilled cheese: B+

There was something about this grilled cheese that at times worked but at other times did not. One bite was great, while the next one was only so-so. The sandwich included a different/odd combination of ingredients for sure, of which I had hoped would all come together into an awesome grilled cheese. However, that did not happen. The grilled cheese was not horrible in the least, it was just missing those great little touches that make a sandwich amazing. Unfortunately, tonight, I am not sure what exactly was missing, or if it was just the combination of ingredients. I should have seasoned the tofu somewhat, yes, but that is the only change I can think of making. On their own the ingredients were great, but when put together in a grilled cheese, they did not hold up.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts on how to improve this grilled cheese, please let me know in the comments. Make sure to check back next week for Tofu Round 2, when I try frying the tofu. It should be another interesting adventure…

ingredients were purchased at…

• Miles Farmer’s Market (Avocado, Portabello Mushroom, Guggisburg Butter Cheese, Kaiser Roll
• Whole Foods (Tofu)