Home of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
When an Irish creamery sends you a ton of free cheese and butter in late February/early March, it is their way of telling you, use their product to create a St. Patrick’s Day grilled cheese. It is a no-brainer in my opinion and that is …
I don’t want to seem like I have become an employee of Kerrygold, but when they make great cheeses and keep sending you free coupons, you kind of have to keep making creations (aka grilled cheese sandwiches) using their products. And then blog about them. …
Another, somewhat longer, installation of the Grilled Cheese Roundup. Hope you enjoy, especially because somehow Thomas Jefferson and cheese are mentioned in the same sentence!
(courtesy Parmesan.com)
A case could be made that one of the American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, helped popularize Italy’s Parmesan cheese in America.
It seems likely that Thomas Jefferson, an educated man who enjoyed living well, had tasted Parmesan cheese in American homes even before becoming the U.S. ambassador to France. He took up this post in 1786, long before Parmesan began to be called Parmigiano Reggiano® cheese.
Who would have thought that Thomas Jefferson was a fan of Parmesan cheese and wanted to bring it to the States? I surely didn’t! Smartly, though, he realized that trying to produce true Parmesan cheese in the United States was futile as part of the allure of the cheese was the fact that it was produced in Italy itself. Regardless, his love for Parmesan cheese, definitely helped begin the intrigue of such an awesome cheese.
(courtesy How Sweet It Is)
Fall is in the air and the leaves are changing color. That means it is time for a fall grilled cheese. Caramel apple‘s tend to show up in grocery stores and farmers markets at this time of year so why not try it as a grilled cheese? This amazing sandwich uses REAL caramel sauce and honeycrisp apples to make a unique and wonderful fall grilled cheese.
(courtesy Smells Like Home)
With me keeping Kosher and not eating bacon, I normally wouldn’t post this sandwich. However, it looks good and fig is a unique ingredient that seems to be popping up as of late. Plus, just because I don’t eat bacon, doesn’t mean the rest of the world doesn’t eat it also. Brie and fig jam (and bacon) seems like a great combination that should be tried by all the bacon lovers out there (which I know there are a ton).
(courtesy The Naptime Chef)
I love caramelized onions. I really, really love caramelized onions. The flavor is simply amazing. So when I saw The Naptime Chef made a grilled cheese consisting of caramelized onions (and swiss cheese), I had to post it for everyone to see.
(courtesy CHOW)
When someone posts a gallery of 10 original grilled cheese sandwich creations, how can I not post it? The above, “Cheezy Peas,” features mild cheddar and cooked peas. Looks and sounds pretty good to me! Other creations include “The Swiss Fun Guy,” featuring gruyère cheese, sautéed mushrooms, shallots, and fresh thyme; “Cruciferous Cheese Sandwich,” featuring gruyère cheese and thinly sliced roasted cauliflower; “Garlic Fries Melt,” featuring white cheddar cheese, thinly sliced roasted potatoes, and whole roasted garlic cloves. Definitely take a look through yourself and see which one is your favorite!
I begin this entry with a riddle: Name a blue food that is not a blueberry, blue M&M or blue corn tortilla chip… …. Did I give you enough time? Need some more? Think of any? Yeah, didn’t think so. Blue foods are a rarity. …
As I do when I don’t have an idea for a grilled cheese, I walk around Whole Foods looking for inspiration for the week’s grilled cheese. However, this time, it was not Whole Foods that inspired me, but me remembering an old idea I never …
While walking around Whole Foods with the sous chef, I was trying to think of an idea for tonight’s grilled cheese. I had thought broccoli but quickly dismissed that. I thought potatoes, but was unsure of my choices other than potato chips. That is when the sous chef suggested mashed potatoes on a grilled cheese, which I thought was a great idea. Maybe we could add some scallions or onions. That idea was quickly overruled when we saw, at the prepared foods department, that they had orange basil sweet potatoes on sale for $1/lb (originally $5+/lb). I tried it and was intrigued. We had not yet used sweet potatoes on a grilled cheese so we went with it. Continue reading Sweet Potatoes Grilled Cheese
Somehow, this past week, I got on the subject of potatoes/potato pancakes and immediately my mind went to grilled cheese sandwiches. Potato pancakes in a sandwich? Good. Potato pancakes as the bread of a grilled cheese sandwich? Perfect. (Thanks sous chef.) Instead of making our …
Breakfast and by extension hash browns, is a meal that I love. The same can be said for grilled cheese sandwiches. Therefore, I thought why not combine a part of breakfast (hash browns) with my favorite sandwich? It was a no-brainer… ingredients: Homemade Hash Browns …
Since I have started my Sunday Dinners/Grilled Cheese dinners, I have not really had a bad grilled cheese. Sure, some were better than others, but none were duds. Well, that has all since changed this evening. It has been hours since I took the last bite and I am still thinking about why this grilled cheese was not as great as I had hoped, even though it had potato chips in the grilled cheese.
The idea was last minute, there were too many ingredients and the bread was too heavy are just possibilities that have crossed my mind. Unfortunately, there were some changes this past week that has changed the Sunday Dinners schedule. There was tonight’s dinner and then next Sunday’s will actually occur this Tuesday evening. (It should be better!)
After reading the ingredients above, you may be thinking that there really weren’t that many ingredients but believe me there were. The sliced tomatillos could have been left as they did not add that much. They are very tasty though! The crunchy homemade potato chips, unfortunately, got lost in the crunch of the ciabatta bread. Using a softer bread may have worked much better so that the potato chips could have taken center stage.
The homemade spicy ketchup was a last minute ingredient and was not totally thought out. It was good, and had a nice kick to it, but was not perfect. The only main difference from my salsa was the consistency, which is not at all how I had hoped it would be. I may have to revisit this idea in the future when I have time to truly flush out my ideas. In my opinion, it is worth a shot.
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Not all grilled cheeses that I cook can be winners. Last week’s was probably one of the best, while this week’s was one of the worst. It happens and will continue to happen as I create a new grilled cheese each Sunday night. This time, the pieces, including the potato chips, did not come together to form a cohesive sandwich. Instead, when paired together, the individual ingredients overshadowed each other, making only a “meh” grilled cheese.
Probably the best part of this evening’s dinner was the side dish, created by the sous chef: fried zuchini. Although a tad over battered, they were very delicious.