@relariis_the_paradox

2 months ago

Here's my go-to recipe:
Ingredients:
- ~1 - 1 1/2 tbsp of country crock avocado oil vegan salted butter (you can use regular butter, but salted is preferred here), * divided into 3 parts ***, each 1/3 - 1/2 tbsp, depending on preference.
- Galbani mozzarella (or similar flavor profile part skim low moisture mozzarella), ~6 in³/98 cm³ or a medium sized uncut slab in your hand, cut into 8-10 slices or grated/shredded AND another ~2 in³/35 cm³, shredded/grated, divided in half, and set aside.
- Sharp Cheddar, (I prefer Kirkland, but it isn't hugely consequential) ~4 in³/65 cm³ or a small uncut slab in your hand, cut into 6-8 slices. It should be a 3:2 ratio between mozzarella and cheddar (2:1 if you include the set aside amount).
- Sliced Meunster (I prefer Sargento's, but again, a similar meunster from another brand should be fine), 2 slices or ~2 in³/33 cm³ or a small brick in your hand, cut to fit bread shape. It should be a 2:1 ratio of volume of cheddar to Meunster.
- Sourdough bread -- sliced from a whole loaf (DIAGONALLY! for longer slices!) is best, but a wide sliced loaf like San Luis Sourdough is fine).
- a pinch of salt.
- a pinch of pepper.
- 2 pinches of garlic powder.
- a tad (~4 pinches) of Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, maybe others).
- your favorite marinara/tomato sauce, OR 1-2 tbsp sour cream + diced 1/4 tomato + diced 1/4 avocado.

Instructions:
0. A lot of this is pretty standard for grilled cheese and this channel, but just to be thorough...
1. Melt first 1/3 butter in a nonstick pan on medium-low heat.
2. Add sourdough slices with sides that will be the interior face down in standard opposing orientation.
3. Allow bread to toast for ~1-2 min, until some very light browning occurs.
4. While bread is toasting, slice/grate all cheeses and prepare to assemble.
5. Remove bread from pan, add 2nd 1/3 tbsp of butter to pan, and flip bread to toast it's other side.
6. Add all cheese except the set aside mozzarella to the flipped bread (atop the side that already lightly toasted). Add mozzarella on one slice, add meunster and cheddar on the other slice.
7. Add all seasonings atop cheeses with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on one side, and Italian seasoning on the other (to prevent any possible assembly issues, one side's seasonings should be added between the meunster and cheddar, but it isn't strictly necessary).
8. Add a palm-full (~1 tbsp) of water to pan, poured quickly between bread and around pan rim, then quickly cover with a lid for ~30s - 1 min, or until cheese just begins to visibly melt.
9. Uncover pan and combine sandwich halves. At this point, the cheese should be slightly melty and should assemble easily. Also, outer bread should be visibly lightly toasted, but not yet fully dark. If stages have taken longer than about 1 min per, increase pan heat slightly to medium-high heat.
10. Move sandwich to one side of the pan, and add 1/2 of last 1/3 tbsp (1/6 tbsp) of butter to the opposite side. Place the final, set-aside shreds of mozzarella directly onto the buttered pan surface, in an area the same size as a sandwich side, and they should begin to melt quickly.
11. Immediately flip or rotate the sandwich so one side rests on the melting mozzarella, and let it sit for 1-2 min, until the sandwich can be moved via spatula without trailing cheese. Check the bottom, and the mozzarella should have browned into a crisp, outer toasted layer.
12. Repeat steps 10-11 for the other side of sandwich.
13. Remove from pan, cut in half, and enjoy on it's own, served with your favorite tomato/marinara sauce, or with sour cream, avocado, and tomato on top.

It's a semi-vanilla recipe, but it hasn't ever let me or anyone I've made it for down!

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