The ingredients were easy enough to come by: 4 ounces mozzarella, 4 ounces Fontina, 2 ounces ricotta, 2 ounces Parmesan and a loaf of ciabatta bread.
The first step was combining the ricotta and Parmesan. The recipe called for finely grated Parmesan and I could see why-- as soon as I mixed these cheeses together the Parmesan blended seamlessly into the ricotta to the point that I couldn't even tell it was there. The recipe advised adding pepper to taste, but since the Parmesan has such a strong flavor on its own I felt like it was enough to counterbalance the bland ricotta.
Next up I took to cutting up the ciabatta bread-- first into four pieces, then in half horizontally (to make pieces for a sandwich). Then I went ahead and pulled out the filling to create wells for the cheeses. I have tried making wells before, but never quite had the right bread for it. Since this bread has such a hard outer crust it was actually very conducive to forming wells-- even when I pulled a lot of the filling out, the hard crust remained intact, so that was great! It was like a little bread shell.
Once I had the bread all ready I drizzled some olive oil on the outer crusts and spread the ricotta/Parmesan mixture on four of the slices.
Next came the Fontina and mozzarella-- evenly distributed between the four slices.
I went ahead and grilled those for about 2 minutes on each side until the cheese was melted-- not a very exciting prep process or cooking, but easy is fine by me! But, one tip for anyone making this sandwich would be to only create a well in one side of the bread. With wells in both there wasn't enough cheese to fill out the whole center so the pieces of bread tended to not stick together. You can do that or just increase the amount of cheese you put in the sandwich (my solution to everything, I know).
Taste Review:
Looking at the sandwich it actually looked pretty boring, and it wasn't giving off an enticing aroma, so I was skeptical. The first bite I got had so much bread in it that it sort of tasted like a cracker-- this didn't help to diminish my skepticism. But in reality the excess bread is probably best attributed to the wells in the bread-- all of the cheese collected in the middle of the sandwich leaving the edges very bready.
Once I got to the cheese, things started to pick up a bit. Since we didn't have any funky cheeses (we're still scarred from the blue cheese a few weeks back) the mild cheeses all blended together seamlessly.
Although it was gooey and delicious, it was a little bland/dry. It reminded us both of a stromboli or calzone, but without the tomato sauce. As such, the addition of tomato sauce (or, in Colin's case, Sriracha) would have done a lot for the sandwich.
In fact, the mildness of the cheeses provides a nice foundation upon which a more elaborate sandwich could be built. I could taste some garlic on my hands from my preparations of another meal earlier in the evening, and that actually enhanced the flavor a lot, but you could really go in any number of directions in terms of additives. I might like some tomato and basil, Colin suggested ham, people who like salami might like that, etc.
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich: | Four-Cheese Italian on Ciabatta |
Gooey-ness: | 4 |
Aroma: | 1 |
Appearance: | Boring looking solid outer shell with gooey white cheeses inside. |
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! |
We really liked the sandwich, but it wasn't a standout on its own. We both finished the whole thing (which is an additional indicator of quality, we don't always finish) and thoroughly enjoyed it! But, it could really be taken to the next level with some personalized flavor enhancements.
Next Week: I might opt to bring some veggies out of the fridge crisper and into a grilled cheese.
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