Who doesn’t want a warm, buttery, crunchy, grilled cheese sandwich? A pair of San Franciscan restauranteurs has worked magic on this comfort food with a filling of mixed cheeses and herbs—it’ll knock your mother’s grilled cheese out of the park. (Sorry, Mom!)
Peggy Smith and Sue Conley, the co-owners of Cowgirl Creamery, sell creative variants of grilled cheese sandwiches at the Sidekick Cafe next to their San Francisco cheese shop. They recently published a recipe book, Cowgirl Creamery Cooks, which sells for $35. The book contains recipes for the following grilled cheese sandwich and several others. Are you drooling yet? Let’s get into the recipe with the ingredients first…
Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- 5 tablespoons fromage blanc (French ‘white cheese’)
- 5 tablespoons sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated
- 5 tablespoons Monterey Jack, coarsely grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, chives, or parsley
- 4 slices (1/2-in.-thick) mild, crusty sourdough bread
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Remember that you aren’t feeding an army! You’re just making enough filling in this recipe for two sandwiches. You can scale this recipe up and use equal parts of three different cheeses in whatever amount you like if you are, in fact, feeding an army or a hoard of Girl Scouts.
After Grating Cheese, Mix Harder Ones Into Soft
The key to making a great grilled cheese sandwich, Smith says, is to use cheeses of contrasting textures in the filling—creamy with firm, or stretchier cheeses with harder ones. The technique is to grate the firmer cheeses into the softer one. Grating produces cheese pieces of consistent size, which improves how they melt and spreads their flavor evenly. Folding the firmer cheeses and the herbs into the softer cheese lets the firmer ingredients mix evenly into the creamier ones.
Use Less Filling With Softer Bread
Spread the cheese and herb mixture evenly over two slices of the bread. According to Conley, stale bread can be used because it is drier than fresh bread. The dryness will cause it to brown nicely. Toasting, too, improves the taste of stale bread. Conley cautions that you should use less filling if your bread is soft or fluffy, so the filling won’t press too heavily against the bread. Butter the outer sides of each slice all the way to the crust, so it will turn a nice, golden brown. Lay the second pair of slices on top of the ones covered in cheese filling.
Use Medium Heat For Best Results
According to Conley and Smith, the quickest way to ruin a perfectly good grilled cheese sandwich is to set the heat too high. You’re trying to melt the inside of your sandwich without burning the outside, so go lower and slower than you might think. Grill these sandwiches over medium heat in a cast-iron skillet or heavy nonstick pan—they’re better at spreading heat more evenly. Cook for five to seven minutes per side of the sandwiches, or until golden brown. Eat ’em while they’re hot!
