10/25/2012

Grilled cheese sandwich goodness

Autumn just here, you can feel the chill in the mornings and evenings, time to wear a scarf, those gloves and a warmer coat.
You also feel hungrier for things that you didn't exactly have every day during spring and summer. So potatoes are back on the menu, fried or braised meat, pasta dishes thick with sauce, anything to make you feel full after eating one bite.
Yes, autumn has caught up with me too, I'm on the roll by frying bread in olive oil or butter with a ton of cheese.
T came back after 5 days, where he left me with the fridge containing 1 type of cheese. T comes back and suddenly discovers the fridge has a magical way of multiplying certain products. Like cheese. I got 4 more types to go. Because, when you make grilled cheese sandwiches, you need all the cheese you can take. And so, sharp cheddar is a yes, mozzarella also a yes, ricotta is a no, but great for dessert or pasta ( more on that here), hard yellow cheese from Amsterdam with a name impossible to remember, is also a yes, parmeggiano is a yes too, and mascarpone is a no. Oh, and gouda and emmentaler are a yes too.


















Add pickled jalapenos, some ajwar or ketchup, or tomato slices and you're good to go.
Just have a frying pan and use butter. Butter is a must. I've tried to substitute butter with mayonaise but it's just not the same. But depends what's your flavour.
About bread and butter- when we came to Poland, I was 9, hated food and was a very miserable eater ( this is how I know what works with picky eaters). We lived for the first year with some friends of the family. The mother of the family, we called her "aunt", was a serious vein clotter cook. But, boy, the stuff she cooked was sooo good. For picky eaters, like me and my sister, she would heat up a cast iron skillet ( no teflons back in those days), melt a stick of butter and throw in 2 slices of bread. Fry on one side till it was golden brown, turn it on the other side, add even more butter and fry it up. This bread/toast was crispy, crunchy, bathed in fat and was the thing I loved most to eat back then. I fell in love with butter. Back in AU all we had there, for some mysterious reason, was margerine. Can't say I liked it.

Anyway, get out your frying pans! your skillets! tons of butter!

Type of dish: snack, sandwich
Cost: medium or cheap ( depends on the cheese you decide to use)
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 1-2
Time: 10 min
Preparation time: 5 min
Frying time: 5 min

You'll need:
a cast iron skillet or frying pan, a spatula, sharp knife, a butter knife, small glass or bowl, teaspoon, cutting board, a plate to serve on

Ingredients:
  • 4 slices of bread
  • Take a pick of 2 or 3 of the suggested cheese: cheddar cheese, gouda cheese, mozzarella cheese, provolone cheese
  • half a tomato, sliced
  • or ketchup/ ajwar
  • mayonaise
  • dijon mustard
  • optional: ham, or cold meat, sliced
  • jalapeno peppers whole or sliced, or hot sauce if you're out of jalapenos
  • 1 stick of butter

How to:
In small bowl, mix together 1 tsp of dijon and 1 of mayonaise, mix well ( pssst!- this is the secret ingredient). Spread it on one side of 2 slices with it, next put on the jalapenos or hot sauce, one kind of cheese, then tomatoes, then cold meat if you want to, or more cheese, then more cheese and on the other bread slice add a bit of ketchup or ajwar. I'm telling you how to do this left to right, facing the bread. Put the slice with cheese together with the slice with ketchup. Slather on top butter, evenly spreading it out towards the edges of the bread. Turn upside down gently and do the same. Heat your frying pan on medium high, wait till it's hot when you wave your hand above the surface of the pan and put in the sandwich, butter side down. Fry around 3 minutes on each side, untill golden brown and crispy:) Put on cutting board, slice in half and serve with additional ketchup or onion pickles. Or a salad. Or just eat it. It's tastes so good!
Ps. Do yourself a favour and don't feel bad about eating this sandwich- just go for a half hour walk before/after.
And don't feel bad! Feel great! That's what melted cheese and grilled bread does to you:)

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