Grilled comfort


I suppose everyone has at least one food that upon the smell or the mere thought of it sends them catapulting back to childhood. For me, ooey gooey melted cheese sandwhiched between two buttery, toasted pieces of bread is the ultimate in memory-laden comfort food. I grew up devouring grilled cheese sandwiches. I graduated from having my crusts laboriously cut off…to painstakingly cutting the bread into 4 identical triangular pieces…to dipping it into Campbell’s Tomato Soup. I often think about grilling up one of these sandwiches – but after much bantering back and forth from myself to myself, the calorie conscious me often wins out.

Although certainly not thigh-friendly, CHOW’s 10 new takes on the grilled cheese sandwich will make any grown up do a double take:
1. Apple and Aged Cheddar Grilled Cheese.
2. Asian Pear and Gouda Grilled Cheese.
3. Grape and Taleggio Grilled Cheese.
4. Roasted Beet and Chèvre Grilled Cheese.
5. Sun-Dried Tomato, Parsley, and Manchego Grilled Cheese.
6. Sweet Hot Mustard and Jarlsberg Grilled Cheese.
7. Mozzarella, Prosciutto, and Fig Jam Panino.
8. Black Forest Ham, Caramelized Onions, and Cambozola Grilled Cheese.
9. Sautéed Jalapeño and Aged Jack Grilled Cheese.
10. Banana and Fromage Blanc Grilled Cheese.

Come on…let’s collectively replace the nouveau mini hamburgers with the uber grilled cheese!