Guest Post: The Two Cheese Avocado Sandwich!

It's an exciting day for The Big Grilled Cheese-- time for our first ever GUEST POST!  It couldn't have come at a better time seeing as how some weeknight plans have precluded my ability to write my own post this week.  Thankfully, Whitney and Caroline have stepped up to the plate (ba dum ching) and bring us a tasty twist on a recipe Whitney found.

Caroline, Whitney and me.

Whitney's description and notes are as follows:

Hi!!!

You must have such a good time each week! Caroline and I had fun tonight making this. :o) Attached are photos. Slight caveat: We did not have pesto. Why? 1) We are lazy and did not want to make pesto 2) We could not find pre-made pesto 3) We decided we were still lazy and didn't want to revert back to making pesto. Therefore this recipe's "green goddess" quality has been slightly rewritten and renamed. It is now: The Two Cheese Avocado Sandwich!

Ingredients: 1 avocado, 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella (dependent on how cheesy you want it), whole wheat bread (2 slices), spinach leaves (1 handful), AND the best part: basil goat cheese (sprinkle 'til satisfied)!
It was super easy to make:

Step 1: Prep Items (slice avocado, etc.)

Step 2: Begin grilling bread in pan

Step 3: Add mozzarella to bread
Step 4: After mozzarella has melted a slightly, add spinach leaves

Step 5: Wait a minute or two and then add the secret ingredient: basil seasoned goat cheese (we bought this pre-made, but you could probably just mix your goat cheese with basil and add it)

Step 6: Add avocado

Step 7: After mozzarella is melted, smush (technical grilled cheese term) the two sides together
Step 8: Voila! Yummy grilled cheese in 20 minutes or less :o)

Here is our review:
Gooey Scale: 3-3.5 We tried to get a picture of how the cheese pulled apart, my phone's camera abilities are sadly not high-tech enough!
Aroma Scale: 2 There isn't anything too fragrant, aside from the goat cheese, in this sandwich. So it was a pretty neutral smell in the kitchen.
Overall Grade: B-B+ (you pick, we didn't want to alter your grading curve)

We really liked this! It wasn't anything too special, but we did enjoy it so much that we made another batch so we could each have one in our lunch tomorrow! (fingers crossed it keeps overnight!)

Quotes from the Kitchen:
"Everything is better with avocados." - Whitney
"You can never go wrong with goat cheese!" - Caroline

Thanks to Whitney and Caroline for this stellar guest post!  They presented some interesting ideas for me to try-- most notably grilling the cheese on open faced bread (aka not assembling the sandwiches before frying).  I've also spotted the seasoned cheeses at Wegmans, but haven't made use of any yet.  This sandwich definitely gives me the motivation to give them a try! 

I like the fact that, despite the absence of the pesto, the sandwich lives up to its colorful name with the dark green spinach and light green avocado.  Those are two ingredients that I wouldn't have thought to combine, but that probably go together quite nicely. 

Now I can understand why people always tell me that my blog makes them hungry-- I definitely wish I could take a bite of this one! 

As always, any guest submissions-- be they suggested recipes, field reports, or full blown cooking features-- are always welcome!

Spinach and Goat Cheese Croissant

This week's sandwich was infinitely easier to make than last week's, but then I think just about anything would have been.  To set the scene, there are only a select few sandwiches whose photos were deemed worthy of inclusion in GGC, and the spinach and goat cheese croissant is one of them.  As a result, it's one I've been salivating over for awhile!  At long last, its day in the sun has come.

Ingredients:
10 ounces spinach (use frozen chopped spinach, but thaw it and drain most of the liquid in advance)
4 fresh croissants
3 ounces fresh goat cheese
6 ounces hard goat cheese (or Gruyere or Emmenthaler)
1 medium sweet onion (approx 1/2 pound)
And, of course, butter.

Step one was chopping the onion and sauteing it in a pan for about 7 minutes (until the onions were limp).

Once the onions were cooked a bit I added the spinach.  I was extra careful to drain as much of the water as I could without leaving it bone dry (a little liquid is necessary for cooking).  Wringing out the spinach by hand and patting it with a paper towel should be sufficient.

After stirring the spinach and onions together I covered the pan and let it cook for 2 minutes (I guess this is to maintain some of the moisture?)

At the end of two minutes I added the fresh goat cheese and mixed it in with the veggies until it was melted.

Now it was time to assemble the sandwiches.  I had already sliced the croissants in half, so step one was covering the bottom of each croissant with the spinach mixture.  Colin wasn't that hungry, so I was only making three, which meant that each croissant got a little more filling than it usually would, but typically this is enough for four sandwiches.

Then came the grated Gruyere (again, applied quite liberally).

The recipe suggests peppering to taste, but I don't like pepper that much, so my taste told me to add none.  With the addition of the tops of the sandwiches I was ready to grill.  I can't emphasize enough how "low and slow" is the name of the game with this one.  The croissant is so delicate that it burns very easily (also thanks to its high butter content), so GGC makes a point of cautioning you to not rush things.  Covering the sandwich while it's cooking (to facilitate cheese melting) is also crucial with this one.  Luckily, for once, I heeded my own advice and didn't burn anything!

Taste Review:

I'm sick this week (boo), so I didn't really notice a scent, but Colin assures me that there was a strong aroma of freshly toasted croissant and spinach (and I'm sure some onion got in there as well).  My first bite put a smile on my face.  The spinach tastes REALLY GOOD when combined with the sweet onion.  We all know spinach can be a little bitter on its own, and the fact that I was mixing bitter spinach with also bitter fresh goat cheese made me a little nervous; and they did form a bitter mixture, but in a good way.  Part of the reason that the bitterness wasn't bad was the Gruyere.  The sharpness of the cheese took some of the focus away from the more bitter elements of the sandwich.  Overall I'd say there was a perfect balance of bitter (spinach and goat cheese), sharp (Gruyere) and sweet (onion and croissant). (Wow, did I really just use "bitter" 7 times in one paragraph?!)

Speaking of the croissant-- grilled cheese on croissant is an as yet under-utilized but EXCELLENT idea.  The croissant is money in this sandwich.  It makes the sandwich rich, but it's so light and fluffy you don't feel bogged down by the fat and grease that often accompany rich dishes.  It just hit me-- this is sort of like a richer version of spanakopita, and I do love Greek food, so it's no wonder I'm a fan!

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	Spinach and Goat Cheese Croissant
Gooey-ness:	2
Aroma:	4
Appearance:	Golden outside with green spinach oozing out of the sides.
Taste:	A-

This is another week where Colin and I disagreed on grades.  I think this can be attributed to the fact that our tastes are similar enough to know what we like and don't like in a general sense, but are different enough that we agree on what the best of the best tastes are.  I wanted to give this one an A, but he said if last week's was an A- then this should be too.  In the end I agree (that and I don't want to get a reputation of being too easy of a grader).

Two Cheese Mediterranean

First and foremost, sorry for the delayed post!  I came down with a nasty virus last week which means I had to put off uploading my photos and completing this post, so this sandwich was actually enjoyed a week ago (pre-illness).

As is sometimes the case, this week's sandwich was chosen based on the ingredients I happened to have on hand.  I had about a half of a loaf of sourdough bread and in reading through recipes I saw that one of the sourdough sandwiches also called for capers and spinach, both of which I also happened to have.  Sold.  Two cheese Mediterranean it was.

In addition to the sourdough, 1/2 cup baby spinach and 1 Tbsp capers that I had on hand, I purchased 2 ounces feta, 1 tsp finely grated lemon peel, 4 ounces Gruyere and 4 whole roasted red peppers.  The recipe also called for 1/2 cup kalamata olives, but those would have doomed this sandwich from the start since I don't like black olives.  Instead I got some "lemon artichoke pesto."  I figured artichokes have a bit of an acidic/salty taste to them and the sandwich already had lemon peel, so it must be a complimentary flavor!  Now let's get down to business.

Step one was mixing together the feta, artichokes, lemon peel and capers.  This in and of itself looked tasty enough to eat-- maybe as a dip of some sort?  But I suppose that's best left for another time.

Next I drained the red peppers and halved them so I had two nice flat pieces for each pepper instead of one big one.

That was basically the only prep work needed!  From there I buttered four slices of bread (well, really sous chef did the bulk of the work this week-- I wasn't having the best day) and spread the feta mixture evenly over the bread. 

Next came the Gruyere (applied more liberally than the 4 ounces the recipe called for) followed by the roasted red peppers. 

I wasn't sold on the inclusion of the baby spinach (nor was sous chef), so we opted to only add it to two of the sandwiches.

From there it was on to grilling!  This went smoothly for the most part save for the fact that the red peppers make the entire inside of the sandwich a little slipperier, so I had to be extra cautious when flipping (this one definitely called for the dual spatula method).

Taste Review:

There wasn't a distinctive aroma unless I got up very close to the sandwich in which case I could smell the red pepper pretty clearly.  The first flavor I notice is lemon, probably due to my decision to include the lemon-artichoke pesto (thus multiplying the sandwich's lemon content).  I wouldn't say it was overpowering at first, it just made its acidity known.  However, the more I ate the stronger the lemon taste became.  It made me wonder if I'm prone to notice the lemon more because I'm not used to lemon flavors in my savory foods, so it stands out as abnormal in addition to being a strong flavor on its own.  Colin actually lobbied for no lemon whereas I was an advocate for removing the capers.

Surprisingly the feta doesn't stand out like you think it would.  Feta is such a strong cheese that it's hard to imagine it being a muted flavor, but I guess an excess of lemon will do just that.  The same was true for the Gruyere-- in fact, the Gruyere was even less prevalent because it's a somewhat mild cheese to begin with.  You could tell there was cheese on the sandwich because of the texture, but if I hadn't made the sandwich myself there's no way I would've known that it was Gruyere.  The same was true for the spinach-- it was virtually non-existent.

The one ingredient in addition to the lemon that really stood out was the roasted pepper.  The peppers gave a subtle sweetness to the sandwich that was a good counterbalance to the acidity of the lemon.

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	Two Cheese Mediterranean
Gooey-ness:	2
Aroma:	2
Appearance:	Vivid red and white center.
Taste:	B

Overall it was tasty, but ultimately forgettable. 

Today is my birthday!  So I'll be headed out of town tomorrow for a birthday getaway, which means no sandwich this week.  But, I do promise to try for a field report from my exotic mystery location... oooh ahhhh.

The Pilgrim

Happy day before Thanksgiving to all!  As mentioned last week, my goal for this week was to find an appropriately Thanksgiving-themed grilled cheese and I definitely hit the jack pot courtesy of The Grilled Cheese Academy (which isn't so much an actual cooking institute as it is a marketing website for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board), so to them I say:

(I also commend them on the success of their marketing campaign).

The ingredients were easy to find, particularly because it's the holiday season and cranberry sauce is on sale!  I snagged the following:

3 Tbsp cranberry sauce, 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard, butter, sage (I couldn't find fresh sage, so bottled had to do), honey wheat bread, 8 ounces each of Wisconsin Gouda, turkey breast and spinach.

First up I prepared the cranberry-mustard by combining the cranberry sauce and Dijon mustard.  I decided to use 4 Tbsp of cranberry sauce instead of 3 because I know Dijon mustard tends to have a kick to it that I'm not always the biggest fan of-- so ideally more cranberry sauce would balance it out.

Next I mixed 1/2 stick butter with about 1 Tbsp of the sage to make sage butter.  I must say I wasn't nearly as excited about this as I was about the garlic-cheese butter, but anytime we're adding a little zest to the butter I'm on board.  After grating up the Gouda I was ready to go. 

Down went four slices of honey wheat bread that had been buttered on one side.  Next came the cranberry mustard (it said to do 1 Tbsp per sandwich and serve the rest on the side, but I just decided to use it all). 

Which was followed by the Gouda, evenly distributed over the bread.

The recipe actually calls for 16 slices of Gouda, but since I'm opposed to cooking with slices unless absolutely necessary (and not having any idea what "16 slices" translates to in terms of ounces), I figured 8 ounces total would work just fine-- and it did :-)

I hadn't read the recipe too closely (surprise, surprise), so I realized a minute too late that I wasn't supposed to put all the Gouda down at once-- just half of it.  So I took some back off of each sandwich and added the 8 ounces of turkey to the sandwiches in the removed cheese's place.

The spinach was to come next, but the sandwiches were already looking so tall that I decided to only include spinach on two of the sandwiches.  All of the sandwiches were then topped with the remaining Gouda and a second slice of bread and voila! Into the pan they went.

Thus far my only experience cooking with Gouda has been the less than stellar Dutch Grilled Cheese, so I was hoping this would prove a more successful endeavor.  I had forgotten how quickly and smoothly Gouda melts!  It was starting to ooze out of the sandwich within about a minute of being placed in the pan.  This meant all of the sandwiches cooked up pretty quickly, which is always a good thing when they look so delicious!

Taste Review:

The sandwiches were very visually appealing-- good colors inside with a nice browned exterior (you could even see the sage flecks on the bread).  Colin thought it looked sort of like a club sandwich (although I think that was mostly due to the turkey).

The fact that I was able to slice through the sandwich like it was warm butter clued me in to the fact that the insides would be very creamy and indeed they were!  Colin was so awestruck by the creaminess that all he could say was "Oh man!  Oh man!"  When I asked for further elaboration on his thoughts he cut me off with a "Shh... don't talk" at which point he commenced singing Take My Breath Away TO the sandwich.  I could see his vote was in.

The sandwich is really so creamy that it's almost like you don't have to chew.  The cranberries and Dijon mustard balance each other out very well-- both could be strong flavors on their own, but compliment one another nicely.  I was glad I added some extra cranberry sauce because, as usual, the Dijon was a little too spicy for me-- I like things on the sweeter side.  It said it all when Condiment King Colin acknowledged that this sandwich needs no additional condiments.

I didn't really notice a difference between the sandwich with spinach and the one without because the main focus was the creaminess of the cheese and the cranberry mustard.  As for the sage, I don't know what that tastes like on its own, but I could tell there was a light herb undertone and obviously that's to the sage's credit.  I think it was there to give the illusion of seasoned turkey (like you would have at a Thanksgiving dinner).

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	The Pilgrim
Gooey-ness:	4
Aroma:	2.5
Appearance:	Looks like a colorful club sandwich.
Taste:	A

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!

Looks like I can add this sandwich to the list of things I'm thankful for this year.  An added bonus is that it's probably not hard to re-create this with your Thanksgiving leftovers!  All you'd need to buy is the Gouda :-)  Happy Holidays to all!  See you next week (not sure what we've got in store for you then).

Field Report: Angelina's Coffee and Yogurt

It turns out for the meeting I'm working in Miami we actually finish up relatively early in the evening!  That means that I had the night to myself to present a second field report!  Angelina's is actually the first thing that came up when I searched "Grilled Cheese Miami," so despite the un-sandwichy name, I figured it was worth a go (especially once I read the positive reviews of the Adult Grilled Cheese menu).

So I hopped in a cab and headed over to an area that I think was called the mid-city mall (no idea if this is correct, but whatever).  The restaurant itself was a pretty small pay by weight yogurt shop that also featured a menu of crepes, flatbreads and GRILLED CHEESES! (duh)  There were 9 sandwiches total on the adult grilled cheese menu, and while I was tempted by several I opted for the number 7: Gouda, Havarti, red onion, ham and spinach leaves on rye. 

The sandwich itself definitely looks "adult."  It was served with a nice strawberry and goat cheese summer salad and had an even proportion of ingredients that reminded me more of a regular panini than of a grilled cheese. 

This was the second instance I had of trying the combination of Gouda cheese and red onions, and I would say that this was a MUCH greater success than the Dutch Grilled Cheese was.  The red onions added some nice flavor to the sandwich without being too overly strong and the smoothness of the gooey cheese actually did help to temper the pungency of the onions. 

Speaking of the cheese, it was kind of cool that they put cheese on both slices of bread-- as in there was bread, cheese, filling, cheese, bread.  I liked the way this made a nice gooey bread combo in every bite!  Even though the Havarti was a little bit more gooey than the Gouda, neither was overly runny.  Like I said, there was just enough melty-ness to the sandwich to keep the ingredients all balanced.  At first I thought that the sandwich wouldn't be cheesy enough, but as I kept eating I realized the Gouda was sort of sticking to the roof of my mouth and that I was getting a progressively cheesier taste.  By the end I was actually starting to wonder if Gouda is too rich for me?  I'll banish that thought for now as any cheese that's as consistently ooey gooey as Gouda MUST be a cheese I like, right?  Right?  Fingers crossed this isn't the first in a slippery slope towards lactose intolerance... eek!  Perish the thought!

As usual, 'twas a successful field report-- although I would still say this lands more on the panini end of the spectrum than it does on the true grilled cheese end (I can't help but still be a bit biased against grilled cheeses with meat).

Report from the Field: Baker's Crust

This weekend while in Richmond I got lunch Baker's Crust, which is apparently a restaurant similar to Panera with locations throughout southern Virginia.  Obviously a sandwich heavy restaurant is always a great place for a grilled cheese field report :-)  They had a lot of sandwiches that had both meat and cheese on them, but when I'm on the road I like to try and stick to the more traditional-- cheese as the main protein grilled cheeses.  Bearing this in mind I got the "Roasted Tomato and Mozzarella Panini" which came with basil pesto and spinach on sourdough bread.  Tomato/basil/mozzarella sandwiches can be pretty hit or miss, so I wasn't sure how good what I was getting would be (but I must say the sourdough got me excited considering how good the sourdough sandwiches have been so far).

As soon as the sandwich arrived I knew I had made a good choice:

It wasn't a big overpowering sandwich and the filling actually looked good and fresh and it came with a side of home made chips (which, as an aside, were kind of a disappointment).  Again I will say that even though I love the combination of mozzarella and basil pesto with some tomato thrown in, I know these creations can be very good and very bad depending on who's making it.  Luckily, this one hit the spot. 

The mozzarella wasn't too chewy, but had a little gooeyness to it thanks to being grilled beforehand.  It also came in slices that were big enough to not fall out of the sandwich with every bite.  The pesto was tasty and added some salt to the mix without overpowering everything else.  The tomatoes are usually my least favorite element in these types of sandwiches, but since they were roasted they weren't too watery and messy, instead they were still moist, but easier to eat than typical raw tomatoes.  Adding spinach was a new twist-- I didn't particularly like or dislike this decision.  It added some substance to the sandwich, but not much else.

Last, but not least, the sourdough was a great choice.  A lot of times sandwiches like this come on some sort of fancy focaccia bread, but in reality if the filling ingredients are good then you don't need a fancy bread to detract from their taste-- the sourdough provided just the right complimentary flavor.  All in all, a good choice :-)