For me, “Fancy” grilled cheeses inspire rage and joy in equal measure. My conception of the ideal, in the Platonic sense, grilled cheese is two pieces of white bread with two slices of American in between. Gussied up versions tend to set out and try to destroy this perfect grilled cheese, which I hate. However, I also usually enjoy the hell out of fancy grilled cheeses so I the rage is in turn tempered by how delicious they often are. Especially the one I have a recipe for below.
Note: I’ve written about this somewhere else before, but I can’t find it, so here it is again.
This sandwiches in particular, The Showstopper, breaks the rules of the best sandwiches. It is everything a sandwich shouldn’t be. It takes two days to prep, you have to watch it closely, and it’s messy. But even though it breaks all these rules, rules that admittedly I just made up but seem right nonetheless, it is still the best damn sandwich I’ve ever had. This isn’t an Earl of Sandwich bullshit bread and meat combo; this is a Duke of York 50-course meal with swan as the main course. Yes, I know that is a meaningless historical comparison if anyone in my program is reading this.
A short note, my friend/adopted sister Julie loves this sandwich. If I don’t make it for her every time, I see her she gets mad at me. Julie doesn’t say she loves stuff lightly and she loves this sandwich. So that should tell you something about how good it is.
So, let’s get down to it. Nothing worse than a cooking newsletter that prattles on and on while refusing to get to the actual recipe. So just one final note: You’ll have to start the night before. But trust me, it’s worth it.
The Showstopper:
Ingredients: Makes 6-12 Sandwiches Depending on the size of your loaf of bread
¼ cup Fresh Basil – Give it a rough chop and be sure to take out all the stems
½ cup honey – make sure it’s spreadable. Some people keep their honey in a very cold part of the house. Not sure why, but you need to be able to spread this.
Loaf of bread – I like to use sourdough here cause it’s the best damn bread ever, but a rustic boule of Italian or French will work just as well. Of course, if you want to flex you can make your own bread from your quarantine starter. For this sandwich the bread should be in the background not out in front. So don’t use a rye or pumpernickel or something.
Fresh mozzarella – Gotta be the fresh stuff. So not the brick of mozz that you use on pizza, but the stuff that is wet. It’s a little more expensive but it’s worth it. My grocery store sells the pre-cut rolls of like 12 pieces. 2 packs of those should do it, depending on how big your bread is.
Unsalted Butter – or salted. I don’t care. Go nuts.
Red pepper Flakes – or, of course, you could dry your own peppers.
(Optional) Cured Italian Meat – If you want to add a little protein to this that’s fine. It’s not strictly necessary but it is good. I’d suggest maybe some spicy Sopressata, or just some Prosciutto if you don’t want the heat. Really any cured Italian meat would work here. Except Mortadella.
Instructions:
The night before, pour the honey into a bowl. Roughly chop the basil and dump it into the honey. Mix it around, so that the honey and basil are evenly mixed. Put some plastic wrap over it and let it sit out on the counter overnight.
The next day, when dinner is on the horizon you’ll want to set up your mise en place, which is a fancy chef word for “having all my stuff in front of me.” These sandwiches have a lot of moving parts, so you’ll want to have everything at hand.
The first step is to make the red pepper butter. You’re going to want to get out your butter and mix it with the pepper flakes. A good combo is about ¼ teaspoon flakes for 1 tablespoon of butter. You’ll probably need somewhere about 3-5 tablespoons of butter for 12 sandwiches, if not more. The butter will need to be soft enough to mix so make sure you take it out of the fridge ahead of time. If you forgot to do that temp just put it in the microwave for about 8 seconds so it softens and then mix it with the flakes.
Next cut up your mozzarella so that you have enough for all the sandwiches. You want enough to cover the bread. If you are using cured meats, do the same for that also separate them so you have what you want for each sandwich.
Now slice your bread if you need to do that. Should be a no brainer, but here we are.
Use the red pepper flake butter and spread it on one side of each piece of bread. If you’re super worried about presentation, then make sure the two unbuttered sides match in size.
Get out your frying pan, or whatever implement you use to make grilled cheeses. Normally I would just use a cast iron skillet but that’s actually not really what we want here. A good non-stick will do. Put it on Medium-low heat.
Take one of the pieces of bread for your first sandwich and spread the honey on the non-buttered side. Put it on the pan and then place the cheese and meat on top. Then put honey on the unbuttered side of another piece of bread and place it on the rest of the sandwich that’s on the pan, butter side up.
Cook until both sides are golden brown. You want to minimize flipping as that decreases the chances of the sandwich falling apart.
Notes on “grilling” the sandwiches: You want to give the mozzarella enough time to melt, but not enough time that the red pepper flakes in the butter burn and become acrid. It’s not as fine a line as it sounds, but you have to keep an eye on it. If the pan gets too hot, stop cooking for a while, turn the heat down and let it go to that new temp. It’s best to serve these right away, but if you want to serve everyone at once, you can turn an oven to 200 and put the finished ones on a baking sheet to sit while you finish the other ones.
Repeat for the rest of the sandwiches. Honestly it helps to have a second person here doing the assembling so that you can concentrate on the cooking part and not get honey and butter all over your fingers.
You’ll most likely have some of that basil honey left over. It’s maybe the best thing in the world. Just put on some leftover toast or whatever and go to town.
You can serve this with like carrots or some shit. I don’t know, it doesn’t need anything else.