6 ounces fresh goat cheese, 1 teaspoon milk (or more if needed), 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (white and light green parts only), 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, 1/2 cup loosely packed watercress leaves. Note: Ignore the semi-sweet chocolate morsels in the background-- I was simultaneously doing some baking for a work pot luck. Additional note: I didn't really know what watercress was prior to working on this sandwich aside from knowing that it's sort of a snooty-pants food. Oh well, maybe this will be a snooty-pants grilled cheese!
Step one was combining the goat cheese, milk, onions, lemon peel and pepper to form a paste that has a consistency akin to "thick frosting." I had left out the goat cheese from the time I got home, meaning by the time I was starting to cook (~2 hours later) it was nice and soft and easy to mix with other ingredients. I recommend doing this because goat cheese takes awhile to warm up to room temperature and if you try to mix up cold goat cheese it won't stir in with the other ingredients as easily. Chopping up the chives and grating the lemon peel were pretty uneventful, so into the bowl everything went.
This is where you can use your discretion in terms of amount of milk to add. I opted to throw in an extra splash because the mixture wasn't quite creamy enough after my initial stirring. Again, though, this is where letting the goat cheese warm up to room temperature before starting will work in your favor. Were the goat cheese not room temperature it certainly wouldn't have the consistency of a thick frosting.
The resulting mixture looked a heck of a lot like the tasty whipped sour cream and chive cream cheese that I eat on my turkey sandwich for lunch every day (yumm, I'm enjoying some right this very minute as I type these posts up during my lunch break). This definitely didn't taste like cream cheese, though. That biting goat cheese taste is unmistakable!
Next it was time to spread the mixture on four slices of bread (buttered on one side, buttered side down).
I was surprised by how much cheese I had for each slice of bread-- the end amount on each sandwich was actually a pretty thick layer.
Next came the watercress leaves.
Obviously these were topped with a second slice of bread and popped in the pan. GGC advised to cook these on a particularly low heat because it takes so long for fresh goat cheese to warm up. Luckily I was well on my way having let the goat cheese warm up to room temperature already, but I cooked them low and slow in the name of letting it get even more thoroughly warm and melty.
As usual, the beloved Pepperidge Farm Sourdough did not disappoint! It grilled up so perfectly golden brown that I couldn't wait to dive in and taste the deliciousness!
In fact, before moving on let me show you a photo that is a pure testament to the glory of Pepperidge Farm Sourdough:
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| Oh baby! Yum yum! (sorry this is sideways, sometimes the blogger photo uploader does that and I have yet to figure out how to fix it) |
Taste Review:
Before even tasting the sandwich our initial reaction was that, much like the Italian Ham and Cheese, it seemed kind of light and understated. But then I reminded Colin that this was made with goat cheese and that there is nothing understated about the bitter/pungent taste of goat cheese. But in reality the sandwich was pretty light-- it made me think of spring (cheesy, I know, but also true). The goat cheese wasn't so strong that it made me want to stop eating, it actually blended well with all the other ingredients.
The lemon flavor is definitely pronounced (it's hard to ever ignore the smell of fresh lemons), but it doesn't overpower the rest of the sandwich, it's more of a background aroma. The same was true for the onions-- they didn't slap you in the face, but you knew they were there.
I was glad that I heeded the advice of cooking the goat cheese slowly and on low heat because it was nice and soft/creamy. The sour-ness of the sourdough proved that it could stand up to the sour/bitter flavor of the goat cheese, so there was a good balance there as well.
I was enjoying my sandwich as I noticed Colin making a move for his beloved Sriracha. *sigh* He noted that he doesn't think that this should count as a "grilled cheese." I reminded him that according to our recently determined definition of grilled cheeses that this is, in fact, a grilled cheese. He conceded that point, but said that he felt this cheese was more of a spread than a sandwich filling. "I could see this on a cracker," he said.
Regardless, we both were satisfied with the sandwich.
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich: | Garden Goat Cheese |
Gooey-ness: | 2.5 |
Aroma: | 2 |
Appearance: | Looks light, fresh and springy. |
Taste: | B |
Gooey Scale | Aroma Scale |
| 1 = still cold/hard | 1 = can’t smell a thing |
| 2 = slightly melted but still firm | 2 = tender waft |
| 3 = melted evenly | 3 = makes your stomach growl |
| 4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) | 4 = strong scent |
| 5 = runny | 5 = overpoweringly pungent |
| 6 = sloppy mess! |
During our grading session we determined that we wish we could revise some of the older grilled cheese grades. I've found us relative grading more and more lately because sandwiches we've made recently that deserve to out-score some of our less liked older sandwiches have to be given a higher grade so it's not tied with something bad. I may be explaining this poorly, so let me give you an example. Colin was thinking a B- for this week, but when I reminded him that we had given a B to one of the salami and cheese sandwiches he agreed to raise the garden goat cheese's grade to a B. I wanted a B all along, so I was happy, but can see where this relative grading may prove detrimental in the future. I'll keep my eye on it to see if it becomes a problem that's big enough to warrant being addressed.
Next Week: I'm out of town, so potential field report on the way! Although I haven't researched any locales yet. Anyone know of a good grilled cheese spot in Atlanta? I've also got one other field report related trick up my sleeve that I will hopefully share next week before I go out of town.
Speaking of field reports, I didn't do one while I was in Richmond this past weekend, but my friend Jessi enjoyed a gourmet grilled cheese at 3 Monkeys (a Richmond restaurant).
From their menu: 3 cheese grilled cheese- brie, swiss & monterey jack with bacon & tomato on rye. She opted to substitute avocado for the bacon and it looks like that was a good call (and slightly reminiscent of the beloved California Grill.
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