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Working in Philadelphia’s social services, my old roommate often endured tough days. Days that often resulted in the same, simple, comforting meal. I’d watch as she’d come into the kitchen, butter two slices of bread, pull some cheese out of the fridge, and proceed to prepare her ultimate nutritional anaesthetic: the Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
Coming from Australia, where I ate griddled sandwiches like paninis and jaffles, I was unfamiliar with American-style grilled cheese. I was also a little incredulous: “Wait – you FRY the cheese sandwich in a pan…? Genius.”
To top it all off, sometimes she’d bake some cookies or a simple cake, so we’d have something warm and sweet to pull out of the oven to go with our after-dinner tea.
So, for my take on a grilled cheese, I thought I’d skip the extra dish and make a savoury-sweet, dessert sandwich that you could bake in the oven, and finish in the pan.
In her honour, here’s my version of a dessert grilled cheese.
Ingredients for 1 serving:
- Metropolitan Bakery’s Chocolate Cherry Loaf, 2 thick slices.
- Delitia Buffalo Milk Butter
- ¼ lb Blu di Bufala (or, if unavailable, Birchrun Blue)
- 1 firm Bosc or D’Anjou pear, thinly sliced.
- Savannah Bee Company’s Raw Appalachian Sourwood Honey (or Bee Raw's Buckwheat Honey)
Here’s how:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make sure your cheese is at room temperature. Thickly spread the Blu di Bufala on both slices of bread, making sure to cover from edge to edge.
3. Lay slices of pear evenly across one of the slices of bread.
4. Drizzle honey very generously over the pear slices, and cover with the other slice of cheesy bread.
5. Wrap sandwich in foil, and bake in oven for no longer than 10 minutes, or until cheese is just melted. Remove from oven.
6. Melt a large pat of Buffalo Milk Butter in a pan over high heat.
7. Place sandwich in the pan and fry on both sides until nice and CRISP!
8. Plate. EAT! And finish with a cup of strong black tea!
By Jamie Png at Di Bruno Bros. Ardmore Farmers Market
