Recipe: Grilled Cheese 2 Ways

After years of watching my mom and various roommates, this is the grilled cheese strategy I have developed. I start out by melting some butter in a pan, spreading it around with one slice of bread, and then setting that slice aside to be the top of your sandwich. I assemble the rest with buttered slice on top (the butter side up) and throw it in a pan on medium heat. In order to get my cheese melty before my bread is burny, I place a lid over the sandwich. After a few minutes, I flip so now the buttered top slice is facing down. Then I place the lid back on for just about a minute (less time than I cooked the first side because the pan has had time to heat up). As soon as I hear the cheese start to melt down and sizzle on the pan, it's done! The keys to my strategy are 1) to use real butter, 2) make sure your cheese has a high enough fat content that it will melt well (generally the harder the cheese, the worse it will melt), and 3) be adventurous with everything else! These are some of the variations I have whipped up recently:

Grilled cheese #1: spinach, basil, and goat cheese brie on garlic bread. Goat cheese brie is a millions times creamier than cow's milk brie, which is good and bad. Good because it is unbelievably decadent and delicious on a sandwich. Bad because it is super hard to cut. I added some basil from my little balcony garden to balance the brie out.

Grilled cheese #2: mint, raspberries, and Sartori's bellavitano cheese soaked in raspberry ale on asiago bread. This bellavitano cheese was sharper than I expected, so I'm really glad I paired it with something sweet. The mint (like the basil above) was from my little garden. I feel so sustainable growing food, although admittedly I only grow about .01% of what I eat.

What would you put in your ideal grilled cheese? I'm always looking for new flavor combinations!