Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

We all know the problem: you buy a nice loaf of bread and then the next day it’s no longer fresh. So you toast it, or freeze it for another time. But my favourite way to use up leftover bread is to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It is slightly decadent: a sandwich generously stuffed with cheese, then fried in heaps of butter… but it’s soooo good! The perfect weekend brunch item – trust me, you’ll be making this time and time again!

If you prefer to make something sweet with leftover bread, I’d really recommend making my super yummy bread and butter pudding!

This recipe was created as part of my “Recipes for Staying Home” show, to flatten the curve during the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak. The concept is to inspire people to cook comfort dishes at home – I show basic recipes that can be adapted with all kinds of other ingredients. You can watch the episode here.

This is a recipe from my cookbook ‘Flavours of Home’.

April 8, 2020

Get
You
Hungry

Steps
To
Make

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

For the balsamic onions:
1 red onion
10g butter
40ml red wine
1 tbsp cassonnade
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt

4 sliced of bread
4 tsp mustard
80g mozzarella, grated
150g cheddar, sliced
butter
salt + pepper

Makes 2 sandwiches

Start by making the balsamic onions: Peel and slice the onions. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onions with a pinch of salt over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until they’re really soft.

Add the red wine and cook until absorbed.

Add the cassonnade and the balsamic vinegar and simmer for another couple of minutes until the onions are sticky and the liquid absorbed. Set the onions aside.

Layout the bread slices. Spread some mustard over 2 slices, and some balsamic onions over the other 2 slices. Distribute 60g of mozzarella over two slices and 100g of cheddar over the other two slices. Season with salt and pepper, and put one of each over each other to make a sandwich.

Spread some butter over the top of the two sandwiches. Heat a large frying pan and put both sandwiches, butter side down in the pan. Put a heavy saucepan or a plate with cans on top of the bread slices to weigh down the sandwiches. Fry on a low heat for about 5 minutes.

Once the bottom is nicely browned, remove the weight from the top and spread some butter over the unbuttered sandwich side. Turn the sandwiches over, weigh down again and fry for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Once the cheese has melted inside, put the sandwiches on a plate and put the remaining cheese in the frying pan and melt. Sit the sandwiches on the melted cheese in the pan and fry for another moment until the cheese is grilled and crispy. Put on a plate and eat immediately.

Serve with a green salad for some good conscience…

Alternative fillings:
– balsamic onions + blue cheese + ruccola
– ham + cheese + mustard
– cheddar + mango chutney + coriander
– raclette cheese + gherkins + smoked ham

Similar
Recipes