sandwiches


16
Sep 09

Smoked Gouda and Apple Grilled Cheese

Apples and cheese are a classic combination, but you haven’t truly experienced it until you’ve eaten this sandwich. The melted, smoky-yet-salty cheese. The sweet, warm-but-still-crisp apples. All between two slices of hearty bread and fresh off the pan with beautiful, golden-brown grill marks. It fills a void in your life that you never knew you had.

This sandwich is simple and rustic, but it’s also elegant and unique. Smoked gouda isn’t an average cheese. Unlike standard Cheddars and pre-sliced American cheese, smoked gouda is subtle and nuanced. Melting it highlights every intricacy and allows them to shine.


Not to mention the apples. You don’t need Fuji apples, but make sure to use something crisp, because the sandwich relies heavily on the variety of textures you get when you bite into it. First, you have the crunchy grilled outside, followed by the chewy inside of the bread. Then the oozing, melted cheese. Fresh, crisp apples play beautifully against these textures, leaving you to enjoy the contrasts bite after bite.

Recipe after the jump…


27
Jul 09

Roasted, Marinated Tomatoes

Growing up, I was never a big tomato fan. On pasta, I tolerated tomato sauce, but preferred garlic and butter (and in my later, more sophisticated years, garlic and olive oil). Even as I get older, some of that still hasn’t changed. I will eat tomatoes, albeit grudgingly, and I’ve learned to enjoy tomato sauce, caprese salad, tomato bruschetta, and all of the finer tomato things. What I hadn’t learned to enjoy was tomatoes on sandwiches.

Until now. These tomatoes are perfect. Roasting gives them sweetness, and also levels the playing field a bit for off-season tomatoes. This means that you don’t need to resign yourself to mealy, flavorless tomatoes in the dead of winter (unless you’re committed to buying local, in which case you might still have some problems). The marinade soaks into the tomatoes, making them melt in your mouth with a rush of fresh, herbaceous, garlicky, sweet tanginess unmatched by anything I’ve ever eaten before.

In short, I love these tomatoes. They’ve officially made a tomato convert out of me.

Recipe after the jump…