Roasted Garlic Grilled Cheese

A childhood classic with a tasty twist. Pair with my tomato soup recipe for maximum cooking efficiency and deliciousness.

What cheeses should I use?

My equation for a good grilled cheese is a combination of at least one melting cheese and one hard cheese. The melting cheese is the primary flavor and substance in the sandwich, and the hard cheese adds a strong complementary flavor. My preference is colby jack + shredded parmesan. Good additional soft cheese options I can vouch for are cheddar, pepperjack and of course american. For the hard cheeses, pecorino and asiago are both really tasty. Just be sure to run the hard cheese through a grater, as they don’t melt very well in big chunks.

Butter or mayo?

Both have their ups and downs and they’re very subjective, but I think butter is superior. I simply like the taste of butter more. The biggest advantage of mayo is that you can spread it on directly out of the fridge, but my grilled cheese recipe is meant to be made with my tomato soup recipe. During that time you can leave butter out to soften, so the mayo advantage is meaningless.

Roasted Garlic Grilled Cheese

Servings

1

sandwich

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

6

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 slices sourdough bread

• 2 slices colby jack cheese

• ¼ cup shredded parmesan

• 1 head of garlic

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 tbsp butter

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Portion out the butter and leave it out at room temperature in advance. Cut the top half inch off the head of garlic. Pour olive oil on the exposed cloves, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 375F for 45 minutes.***
• Take the garlic out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, spread butter on one side, on both slices of bread. On the unbuttered side of one slice of bread, lay the colby jack and grated parmesan.
  
• Squeeze the garlic cloves out of the skin, and spread on the unbuttered side of the other slice of bread. Combine both slices into a sandwich. Place on a medium-low pan and cover. Check the browning level every minute or so until browned to your liking.
• Flip and repeat for the other side. Once both sides are crispy brown and the cheese is melted, take off the pan and enjoy! (preferably with tomato soup).

Notes

• *** For maximum efficiency roast the one head of garlic with the ingredients for roasted tomato soup