Sandwiches
A Grilled Cheese Worth Holding On To!
I’ve always loved grilled cheese sandwiches starting with my mom’s, which were made with cottony white bread and processed American cheese slices. The melted cheese that oozed out to the bottom of her margarin-slicked pan (which, by the way, was missing its handle) always got burnt—yum! I can still taste the sharpness of the cheese and the salt on my tongue just thinking about it. Now THAT was good eating.
I have only fond memories of the many kinds of grilled cheese that followed, from Reubens eaten late at night in diners, to take-out deli grilled Swiss with bacon and tomato on rye before stumbling onto my current favorite, which is easy to make at home.
Sweet and Savory Grilled Cheese
Serves 4
I swapped deli-style rye with Bread Alone’s organic nine grain mix initially for its bone-blasting qualities (protein, B vitamins, magnesium and copper), but it quickly became my flavor favorite because it gets so nice and crunchy when it's grilled. I love a sandwich with a crispy bite, don’t you? I kept the Swiss cheese, again with a nod to nutrition — it contains less salt than other meltable cheeses, but I have to admit that I love how thick and creamy it is and how sharp and salty it isn’t. I bailed on the bacon and layered on the veggies: Stunning slices of sweet delicata squash, shaved Brussels sprouts, and a radicchio chiffonade. They bring a perfectly balanced melange of flavors, ranging from slightly bitter to pleasingly sweet, and just the right nutrients to improve bone flexibility (vitamin C), keep bone fractures at bay (vitamin K), and ward off the onset of osteoporosis (potassium, manganese). Now here’s a sandwich worth holding on to!
1 delicata squash, seeded and sliced in twelve ½-inch rings
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons za’atar or thyme
12-16 large Brussels sprouts, thinly shaved, about 4 cups
¼ tsp kosher salt
½ small head radicchio, chiffonaded (sliced into very thin ribbons)
12 oz. Swiss cheese, such as gruyere or emmental, grated
8 slices 9-grain bread
1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and divided into 8 pieces
Preheat a griddle (or grill pan or any pan you have that is big enough to accommodate 2 slices of bread per sandwich) over medium heat.
In a bowl, toss and coat squash with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the za’atar or thyme. Brown slices on griddle till softened then flip and brown the other side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Drizzle the other tablespoon of oil onto the griddle and spread shaved Brussels sprouts over it. Season with salt. Let cook undisturbed till you start to see browning. Then stir and cook till bright green and tender. Scoop them up with a spatula onto a plate and set aside.
Wipe your griddle clean of debris with a paper towel or cloth. Assemble the cheese, squash, Brussels sprouts, radicchio and bread nearby. Butter one side of all the bread slices you are using and place on griddle butter-side down. Cover each with a handful of cheese. Top half the slices with 2 or 3 squash rings, and the other slices with the Brussels sprouts. Don't worry if some leaves land on the squash-topped slices. Let the bread toast and the cheese melt. (You can cover to help the cheese melt a little faster and the sprouts to warm up.)
When toasted, melty and warm, place a small handful of the cool, crunchy radicchio on the Brussels sprouts side. Using a spatula, flip squash topped pieces on top of the radicchio/sprouts pieces to enclose all the goodness. Yum!
Credits: Creative Direction//Prop Styling, Francine Matalon-Degni; Photographer, Julie Benedetto; Food Stylist/Recipe Developer, Leslie Orlandini; Editor, Sarah Marie Degni; Logo Designer, Zoe Miolla; Graphic Designer, Una Miolla