It may seem redundant to do a post on grilled cheese sandwiches. What is more pedestrian in the world of food?
But it isn’t true! There is an art to making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. How do I know this? Back in my pre-foodie days I used to make the worst one in the world! Processed cheese on old store-bought whole wheat bread. There is not enough ketchup in the world… No thanks!
Then, I came up with this version and even my husband (who used to be wary of my grilled cheese) loves them. This is the only kind either of us will now eat!
First, begin with homemade bread if you can. I thinly sliced two pieces of my French bâtard bread. On one piece I spread a generous helping of Philadelphia Low Fat Herb & Garlic Cream Cheese on one side and low fat Havarti (my favourite melting cheese) on the other. I “glue” the cream cheese side on top of the Havarti and saute in some butter over medium to medium-high heat.
Because I thinly sliced the bread, over time the cheese did melt. In the case of thickly sliced bread…
I finish it off in the oven at around 300F until the cheese oozes out!
A beautiful bowl of homemade tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich from heaven… Now lunch is complete! Havarti does not have a lot of flavour but it melts so perfectly which is complimented by the strong flavours of the cream cheese. Together they balance each other and the wonderful buttery crunch of the homemade bread takes this dish over the top!
I would love to hear your grilled cheese tips, ideas and stories! Feel free to share.
Havarti with dill might make an interesting combination with the cream cheese. Looks tasty to me!
I am making the tomato soup today. I made sure to buy the ingredients yesterday!!
Susie, now that’s what a call a gourmet grilled cheese. Great idea adding the cream cheese with herbs for extra flavour. The roasted tomato soup also looks delicious. I’ve never actually made tomato soup at home, but the idea of using roasted tomatoes makes it more tempting. Susie, I don’t own a mill, so I guess peeling the tomatoes after roasting would do the trick? Too bad about your cookie tray. May I suggest parchment paper the next time. I use it all the time, and it really works. I regret not having shares in the company that makes the stuff.LOL Sure makes cleaning up easy. Have a great week.
Zedral, love Harati and dill idea, yum! Amelia, oh good, I hope the soup goes well my friend. Anna, thank you! And you can totally use a blender or an immersion blender, do not worry about the skins. I think they’ll blitz OK. If you are really worries you can just remove them after roasting the tomatoes, I bet they would pop right off. Yes, definitely using parchment paper next time! Thanks for the support Anna!
Rather than melting butter in a pan, try this. Butter two slices of bread and stack them butter sides in. Build you fillings on top then assemble your sandwich buttered sides out and drop into your preheated pan. The butter flavor is driven directly into your sandwich and no waste. It’s an old line cooks trick to speed the process up !!!
We would prep the Sandwiches for the order and drop them last as the other items were finishing. All the items arrived in the pass hot and ready to eat at the same time.
Great idea Wayne, I will totally try that! No waste sounds good to me and if it speeds up the process, why not? Thanks for sharing your wisdom, I really appreciate it.
I also like buttering the bread, but sometimes I do melt it in the pan instead (depends on if my butter is hard or soft). When I was a kid and my parents were making grilled cheese for the whole family, they would butter the outside of each slice of bread and toast them under the broiler, flipping the sandwich over once the first side got toasted. You have to watch them if you do it that way though – they can burn fast! Good for a crowd though.
My favorite is aged cheddar (Balderson 2 year old white cheddar is my fave). I will usually put a piece of foil over the pan for the first part of cooking to keep the heat in and melt the cheese, then when I flip it over I leave the foil off.
I rarely have soft butter RadianDeveloper, probably why I never thought of using that technique. Interesting idea to use the broiler! Bet that works awesome. I use old white cheddar when I am out of Havarti too!
We make the traditional butter the bread and add a Kraft slice in the sandwich, it seems to work for the kids and hubby for a quick fix. I like the idea of adding the cream cheese, so yummy.
I’ve made Mario Batali’s Grilled Mozarella Sandwiches, and that’s my personal fave. Simple sliced mozzarella on the inside, then the whole sandwich is bathed in herbed batter(eggs and cream), kind of like French Toast and then cooked in a pan with olive oil. Can you say Mmmmmmmm!? Kind of rich but a nice comfort food once in awhile. It would work perfect with your homemade bread.
Quick fix is always good Ava! OMG, that sandwich by Batali sounds ridiculous divine and dangerous all at the same time. Damn!
I have to tell you Suzie that I tried Havarti cheese because of you… and now this is my favorite melting cheese too <3
Oh yay!!! Nolwenn, that is awesome! Isn’t it a great cheese? We love it so much. Enjoy!
My fav is proscuitto, bocconcini, tomato and basil on ciabatta bread. Maybe more a panini then a true hardcore grilled cheese sandwich??? Don’t know, don’t care… It is delish!!! Suzie, I totally agree… Nothing goes better with a grilled cheese sandwich that a bowl of tomato soup!!! Match made in heaven!!!