Post Your Favorite Ways to Make Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches

[ironchef]

It's definitely not light on the calories, but oh so good. I sometimes would run this as a special paired with a fresh tomato soup "shooter" as a play on the classic American grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup combination:

Butter Toasted Brioche
Pan Seared Foie Gras
Gruyere Cheese
Reduction of Aged Balsamic Vinegar

 

[mudbug]

ooooh, IC - you've killed me again.

More plebian, but nevertheless interesting - use rye bread with your grilled swiss.

 

[vagriller]

We had grilled cheese AND tomato soup tonight for dinner! How funny is that? I tired the garlic powder on the sandwich and wow what a difference it makes. Also tried the sour cream in the soup and it was good too. Makes the soup creamy. Good stuff, thanks for the tips guys and gals!

 

[Banana Brain]

With four ingredients: Bread. A fat. Cheese. A frying pan. And then, anything is possible.

 

[mish]

Tuna melts are one of my faves... but not exactly a grilled cheese sammy.

When I want to jazz up a grilled cheese sandwich, I spread some pesto on the bread, add muenster, swiss, mozzarella (whatever cheese you like), top the cheese with sun-dried tomatoes. In place of the pesto, top the cheese with fresh basil leaves. If you want to get fancy, press some toasted pine nuts into slices of mozzarella, rub the mozzarella or bread with a garlic clove, and saute in evoo/butter.


Mozzarella in Carozza (Mozzarella in a carriage)
Place a slice of mozzarella on white bread, top with another slice of bread (trim the crusts), dip in an egg/milk mixture (add some flat leaf Italian parsley to the egg mix, if you like), and dip again in Italian bread crumbs, and fry it up.

Instead of a plain ole ham and grilled cheese, try mozzarella, proscuitto, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil leaves -- or Monte Cristos.

I posted a recipe a while back for Mozzarella S'mores. Use slices of garlic bread in place of sandwich bread. Foccacia is another way to go.

 

[kyles]

Thick good bread, Lancashire Bomb cheese, a few drops of Lancashire sauce (a mustardy worcestershire type sauce) with black pepper on top, and grilled until nice and crunchy. Yum

 

[BreezyCooking]

Mine vary according to mood, hunger, & time.

Favorites are:

Plain white bread & American or Cheddar cheese, either broiled in the oven or grilled/fried in a cast-iron pan.

The good old "Reuben", which I consider basically a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich on seeded rye bread (with corned beef, sauerkraut, & Thousand Island dressing - lol).

And the good old "Tuna Melt" - another golden oldie grilled cheese sandwich with some tuna salad thrown in for good measure!!

My dad has had an interesting implement for the last 40 years or so that he uses for grilled-cheese sandwiches. It has 2 long handles attached to 2 hinged round metal plates at the end. You put in a slice of buttered bread, your cheese (& other ingredients if you wished), top with another buttered slice, & close it. You then hold the plate end over a hot burner (or outdoor charcoal fire) for several minutes on each side, open, & voila - out pops a perfectly round, crusty, sealed melted cheese sandwich. I'm sure this apparatus has a name, but I have no idea what it is. Just know that it made grilled cheese sandwich making a lot of fun growing up - long long before panninis became so popular.