Carolyn's Yummy Grilled Cheese

Do you love it when you have company drop in for dinner? We love it. There is no time to have things just so. No pressure to impress...especially if it is one of your besties!

A few weeks ago, I invited my Carolyn to join us for dinner. I had made French onion soup...it took 3 hours to carmelize the onions and when I invited her to drop in...I was so excited she didn't have dinner plans.

She brought over a plate of THE BEST GRILLED CHEESE sandwiches ever. They were devoured. Let's just put it this way, I don't think anyone cared about the soup, and I am never {I MEAN NEVER!} making a soup that takes that long to make again. You would be better off spending a few minutes whipping up these yummy sandwiches, and the kiddies LOVED them. Gone are the days of a slice of cheese and butter on bread!



Yummy Pimento, Grilled Cheese (Surprisingly Kids love these too!)

Carolyn



5 cups shredded cheese (mix of sharp and medium cheddar) Any cheddar will do, but I love Tillamook medium white cheddar and sharp.*

1 small jar pimentos

1/2 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods Light) add more if you want in to be more gooey

1 sea salt to taste

{I added 1 pressed clove of garlic}

Garlic Sourdough Bread (I like Franz/Seattle International Garlic Sourdough** sliced rounds/they sell a regular sourdough also, but the garlic really makes the sandwich complete!) The pieces of bread are big so you can cut in half and they look very rustic and yummy and the cheese oozes out a bit. A nice way to get oohs and ahhs!

5) Trader Joes Olive Oil Spray (Way easy, and you don't need butter because the sandwiches are rich) I use this for all my grilled sandwiches. It’s a mild tasting olive oil.



This should made six sandwiches depending on your bread size and how thick you spread on your mixture. I was able to make six large sandwiches.



This is so simple...I saw the recipe in Bon Appetite and modified it a tiny bit.

●I just tossed all the ingredients other then the bread & Oil in a bowl and mix a few times till the cheese and mayonnaise are blended decently. There's no perfection necessary in this. You can add more mayonnaise if you need it to hold everything together. You can also add a little mustard if you want it a bit tangy..but don't add too much without tasting first (I add about a tablespoon which I like, but my kids prefer it without)

(A hint if you leave the mixture at room temperature for just a bit it grills much better)

●Sample the mixed product several times (you really don't have to do this...but it's so good and my excuse is I have to make sure I put enough salt in)

●Get ready to grill ....when I grill my sandwiches, I grill the insides of the bread for just about 45 seconds before spreading on the cheese concoction. (You don't even need to use butter or oil.) That way, the inside isn't mushy. This works especially well if you are transporting sandwiches for a soup and sandwich night at a dear friend's house like I was.

●After you have assembled all the sandwiches, you are ready to grill.

●Spray the tops of two sandwiches lightly with olive oil, put them oil side down in the pan.

(One of the tricks to a good grilled cheese is patience and a pan that's nice and hot, say med high, but not too hot.)

●While they are cooking oil side down, spray the top. Flip over when they are nicely grilled and brown and cook the other side.

●Move sandwiches to a serving platter and cover to keep warm.***

●Repeat till you are done.

● I do mine two at a time because they are quite large and they fit nicely in my pan.

(You can also do this on an outdoor grill just make sure your flame isn't too hot or they will burn quickly!)

*If you need a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches at once, you can butter both sides of your sandwich bread and bake them on the SILPAT.  Bake at 450* for about 16 minutes.  Eight minutes on one side and eight minutes on the other side.  Shredded cheese melts much faster and makes for a better grilled cheese!

*Note...If you can spring for some black label Tillamook sharp...so good!!!

**They sell this at the Franz Bread store for under $2.00…a great deal and it freezes great. I love to have on hand for those nights when I can’t make it to the store

***These transport really well...I had a ten min drive and the sandwiches stayed warm under the foil. (They are good cold too!)

Happy Happy Friday!

Shared with:  stone gable