Day 791 : Grilled Cheese wrap up

Yesterday was National Grilled Cheese Day! My friend threw a fantastic grilled cheese party in honor of the momentous occasion and each sandwich was more delish than the last. It was such a fun way to celebrate! How did you celebrate!?

It's hard to not love a grilled cheese sandwich, right? Two pieces of bread with ooey gooey cheese sandwiched between -- it harkens back to simpler days, childhood memories and a sense of warmth and comfort.

So in our catch up mode here, I thought I'd share with you all a grilled cheese recipe in honor of National Grilled Cheese Day -- perhaps you can make it over the weekend or the next time you are in the mood for one.

What do you need for this grilled cheese?

Grandaisy Bakery's Sesamo loaf 
Consider Bardwell's Manchester - Vermont crafted artisanal raw goat's milk cheese crafted in rustic farmsteady Alpine manner. Firm and bright with light citrusy and grassy notes and a hazenut-y, hay, earthy finish.
Homemade Basil Fennel Pesto - basil, EVOO, diced fennel, pine nuts, Parmesan, sea salt, and black pepper
Sauteed Spinach medley  - saute spinach with EVOO, a drizzle of white wine, and some roasted slivered almonds and a little bit of crushed red pepper for a nice kick.
Vermont Butter & Cheese's Cultured Butter

Place a nice amount of your homemade basil fennel pesto on one side of the bread then top the other side with a nice amount of sliced Manchester and then your sauteed spinach. Coat the exterior of each piece of bread with your butter and place in an already warm skillet. Leave on each side for approx two minutes. Enjoy with a Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner.

Day 761 : Grilled Cheese, Kobayashi, SXSW, GroupMe Grill

Ever heard of GroupMe? If not, well here's what it does -- it allows you to connect with anyone in your life via group text message. Friends, family, coworkers, workout buddies, you name it, this free app for any phone allows you to combine people into groups and communicate with them all at once. Pretty cool, right? Well at SXSW this past weekend they sponsored for the second year in a row what was known as the GroupMe Grill -- a PR / promotional event where if you had Groupme on your phone, you got a free grilled cheese.

Image courtesy of www.businessinsider.com

Too bad we weren't at SXSW to get a free grilled cheese, but a new grilled cheese record was set this past weekend at the GroupMe Grill that is definitely worth covering here on the blog:

Takeru Kobayashi, of Nathan's Hot Dog eating contests' fame ate thirteen grilled cheeses in one minute to smash through the prior grilled cheese record. The prior record was 49 grilled cheeses in ten minutes and was set by Joey Chestnut. Part gross, part just totally amazing, it surely is notable cheese news!

Image courtesy of www.fw.com

Day 753 : Super Fancy Grilled Cheese?

Do you know what that is the tagline for?

It is the tagline for Little Muenster - a grilled cheese joint that opened down on the Lower East Side last Fall. A small storefront with enough room for about ten to fifteen people to sit, Little Muenster offers a selection of approximately eight different grilled cheese combinations that can be paired with the classic tomato soup and / or a wedge salad. Otherwise they come with local sweet potato chips.

We all tried three of their different grilled cheeses to really get a sense of what their menu has to offer -

1. Asiago / Parmesan / Muenster / Butternut Squash / Sage Brown Butter - An excellent blend of creaminess and nuttiness with a rustic homey earthy aromatic quality - flavorful and delish! Perfect with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon on a cold winter evening. Filling yet comforting - just what you want a grilled cheese to be.

2. Taleggio / Fontina / Sauteed Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms - Earthy and nutty with a melt in your mouth fullness of the fontina but I think this sandwich could have used a little bit of green herbs to cut the richness of the mushrooms and the cheese, perhaps some chives?

3. Maytag Blue / Muenster / Pear Puree - This was my favorite by far - savory yet sweet, piquant and biting yet fruity and light, creamy yet spicy, approachable for the novice blue cheese lovers but in your face enough for the more advanced blue cheese palate. It was subtle yet refined, simple yet developed. Great with a glass of mineral forward Sauvignon Blanc to cut through the richness.

Overall each sandwich had a developed flavor profile but a sense of playfulness -- exactly what a small grilled cheese joint should be. Go for a snack before going out with friends on the Lower East Side; a quick lunchtime bite after the New Museum; or well really whenever you feel like it except not on a Monday because they are not open.

Little Muenster
100 Stanton Street (between Orchard & Ludlow)
NYC

Day 723: New Grilled Cheese Spot Alert on the UWS

Opening Alert!!!

Within the next two weeks, a new grilled cheese farm to table joint is opening on the Upper West Side called Say Cheese. Strictly take out sandwiches, soups, coffee, hot chocolate, s'mores, and baked goods, it will be open from 11 to 6, except on Mondays.

Say Cheese
142 West 83rd Street
NYC

Stay tuned for our Fromagical Reviews!

Day 722: A Grilled Cheese to ring in Punxsutawney Phil's Shadow

Happy Groundhog Day!

A day memorialized in our hearts and minds by a mixture of a Bill Murray movie and an old wives tale. Yet we always pay attention to what this creature says each and every year on February 2nd and this year as with most years in present memory, the little bugger saw his shadow meaning we have six more weeks of winter. So why not settle in with a nice warming grilled cheese and a pint of lambic?

Lambics unlike ales and lagers are produced with spontaneous fermentation causing their flavor profile to be funkier and more unique than a traditional beer but that's what makes them exciting if you ask me. There are a variety of producers that tend to infuse different fruits into their lambics creating sweeter nuances. 

Following in last week's footsteps utilizing Grandaisy's Pullman, tonight let's utilize their raisin walnut bread instead. On either side of the bread, spread a nice layer of our Vermont Butter & Cheese's Cultured Butter then place a nice layer of Beth Farm's Kitchen Fig Jam, tangy yet savory and sweet. Next up top this with a nice chunk of Great Hill Blue and some home roasted hazelnuts for a nutty roasty crunch. Toast away and enjoy with your favorite Lambic. 

Great Hill Blue is raw cow's milk non homogenized blue cheese from Marion, Massachusetts. It packs an excellent spicy, piquant punch while maintaining a creamy round mouth feel that will go perfectly with the rustic nutty sweetness of the remainder of your grilled cheese.

This is a pairing where big flavors complement bigger flavors, perfect to stimulate your palate to get you through the rest of the winter!

Day 718 : On Relaxing, Grilled cheeses & more...

It feels like a day for grilled cheese doesn't it? Something comforting and simple for a relaxing Saturday. There is something to be said for melted cheese sandwiched between two pieces of bread that just warms you from the inside out, it envelopes you in the sort of way that brings a smile to your face. It triggers a return to simpler times, simpler pleasures and good honest food.

So let's keep this sandwich ingredient driven without too much fuss and with a focus on good honest local elements.

I think that the Pullman bread from Grandaisy Bakery is the most excellent grilled cheese showcasing bread, so grab a loaf of that. Next up grab some of Vermont Butter & Cheese's cultured butter to place on either side of the bread. The secret to a decadently fabulous grilled cheese is good butter.
Next up grab some of Beecher's Flagship Reserve. I like to dial up the flavor profile a bit by adding some sundried tomato paste, along with some freshly sliced Roma tomatoes, a few sprigs of mesclun lettuce to add a vegetal green side, some fresh oregano and some ground black pepper.

So grab your Pullman bread and slice two thick slices, lather each with butter, and a nice amount of the sundried tomato spread. Place one thick slice of Beecher's Flagship Reserve on either side of the bread. Next up layer your freshly sliced Roma tomatoes drizzled with EVOO and sea salt then top with mesclun lettuce and some fresh oregano. It's time to cook this sandwich!

Warming, homey, comforting and flavorful. Great for a Saturday night movie night in!