Ahhhhh…. Crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside! (Add a rustic tomato-basil soup or onion soup on the side for dipping perfection!)
My fave way to get the exterior crispy perfection is to spread the outside of the bread with mayonnaise before placing the sandwich in the butter melted in the skillet. (Try it. You’ll be hooked.) The ingredients? Well, we all have our preferences. Choose your bread type, cheese or cheeses, mayonnaise or other dressing, and whatever optional seasoning you like. Then add or don’t add other layers.
In my college years, my favorite breakfast was a basic grilled cheese with added tomato slices and bacon. Then I started adding thin slices of sweet bell pepper, followed by a sprinkling of dry onion soup mix. Hubby Sir Ronald’s choice is adding a fried egg and catsup. He also loves it when I grill up a ham & cheese sandwich with a nice country or Dijon mustard.
Let them evolve to satisfy your day’s whims and fancy! Perhaps a pimento cheese BLT… or luscious lump crabmeat and gruyere. One of my favorites since childhood what something Mom made… open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches. Top them with thick slices of buttery muenster cheese and a sprinkle of your favorite herbs.
Ummm… I think I need to go make a grilled cheese sandwich NOW!
(Open-faced, grilled gruyere sandwiches with onion soup photo by Dana DeVok.)
