Economical eat, Everyday staple, Quick make, Recipe, Reduce waste, Sourdough

Grilled cheese

Posted by will4food on

Simple unctuousness

So you’ve got some sourdough which means you can now make the ultimate snack… a grilled cheese sandwich – hot, cheesy, tangy and spongy at the same time. Utterly glorious.

Makes one portion (maybe two if you are happy to share). Takes 10 minutes.

For grilled cheese you will need…

  • Two thick slices of sourdough bread
  • Approx 75g of extra mature cheddar, sliced
  • A clove of confit garlic
  • A pinch of salt
  • Teaspoon of Dijon mustard
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Soft butter
Grilled cheese ingredients
Ingredients for grilled cheese.

Best made in a cast iron skillet with a sandwich press.

To make grilled cheese…

  1. Plug any large holes in your sourdough with some extra bread
  2. Heat your skillet over a medium heat
  3. Put the clove of confit garlic and pinch of salt in a small bowl. With the back of a teaspoon macerate the garlic into a paste. Spread this paste on one piece of bread.
  4. Spread the other piece of bread with mustard, and a turn or two of black pepper.
  5. Pile the cheese on top of the mustard and add the garlic covered bread, garlic side down, on top to create a sandwich.
  6. Spread the top of the sandwich with butter, and put into the skillet, butter side down, and put the sandwich press on top.
  7. Apply gentle pressure to the sandwich press and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the bread starts to crisp up and turn a toasty brown colour (take a peek).
  8. Spread the upward side of the sandwich with butter and flip over. Press again with the sandwich press.
  9. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
  10. Remove from the pan, cut and devour!
Sandwich press in action!

Tips

  • If you don’t have a cast iron skillet use your heaviest frying pan or even a griddle pan
  • A small baking dish can be used to weight the sandwich rather than a sandwich press, weigh it down with a tin of beans or tomatoes, to add some constant pressure to the sandwich.
  • You can make this other cheeses instead or as well as cheddar. Hard cheeses like Red Leicester work well on their own or milder cheeses like Gouda mixed with blue Stilton cheese (keep the rind on!) make great combinations. Soft cheeses also work. Great way to use up leftovers from a cheese board.
  • This is a great way to use up old sourdough bread.