Grilled cheese: That staple of Americana. The sandwich we all run to, young and old, to satisfy that inner child. The gooeyness. The creaminess. The combination of bread-cheese-bread that just throws us in the way back machine and drops us off at Memory Town.
Ah, but times, they are a-changin’, my friends. It’s time to feed the outer grown-up. Check this out:
2 slices of fresh sourdough bread
1cup blue cheese
Bacon Jam (You can buy it here: http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-891226/?affsrcid=Aff0001&mr:trackingCode=A6E29125-F30A-E111-973E-001517384908&mr:referralID=NA&origin=pla&mr:adType=pla
1/3 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced into long pieces
1 shallot, diced
1 sprig of thyme
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. olive oil
1/8 cup red wine (good drinking wine, please)
Salt & pepper to taste
Take a small sauté pan and add in your butter, thyme and olive oil. Bring to a medium heat and once the thyme is fragrant, and in your mushrooms and onions. Sweat them down until the onion is translucent; add in your red wine and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until wine reduces. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Take your bread and butter one side of each slice. On the other side of 1 of the sourdough pieces, spread some bacon jam all over (careful with this stuff; it’s deceptively tasty, and you don’t want so much that it overpowers the other ingredients). Top THAT piece with ½ the blue cheese. Add your mushrooms and shallot (be sure to remove the thyme), then top with the rest of the blue cheese.
Grill the sandwich in a non-stick skillet (yes, like you normally would for an ‘old school’ grilled cheese), until the blue cheese is melting and fragrant. Enjoy.
After all, it’s just Da(m)n Good Food, so why go out?
Hey, we all love a good meatball sub right? But where to go? There's so many choices, and most of them are good. Well, here's a recipe to make your own without all that pesky decision making.
Ingredients:
Sandwich base -
1 loaf of fresh French bread
2 slices deli provolone cheese
Dried oregano (just a few sprinkles)
Sauce -
Good tomato sauce (I used Barilla Marinara canned sauce for this recipe, but feel free to make your own or buy another brand)
1 clove minced garlic
2 diced fresh basil leaves (you can use a good dried sweet basil if you don’t have fresh)
Splash of red wine (good wine you’d drink. Please don’t buy ‘cooking wine’. I don’t have time to track you down and smack you upside the head for doing that.)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste
Meatballs -
4 cloves diced garlic
1 shallot, diced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 lb. ground beef (93/7)
1 lb. ground Italian sausage
1 ½ tsp. dried oregano
1 ½ tsp. dried basil
1 bunch fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp. Salt
1 ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 large egg
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
For the sauce: Start by pouring the jar (or your homemade) sauce in a medium pot; turn on medium-low heat. Add in your garlic, basil, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning; stir. Allow this to cook for about 3-4 minutes, then turn to a simmer. Add your few splashes of wine (sparingly; you want to enhance the flavor, not get all liquored up eating lunch.)
Simmer for another 10 minutes or so (or until the meatballs are done).
For the meatballs: Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl and shape into about 2 inch balls. In a large non-stick skillet, drizzle some olive oil and heat to medium-high. Once the pan is hot, add your meatballs a few at a time (do not over-crowd the pan or they won’t cook correctly) and give each side a sear.
Once they are browned all the way around, remove them from the pan and place in a large glass baking dish; repeat. Once you’ve browned all of them and switched them to the dish, place it in the oven for 12-15 minutes until cooked through.
Now, for the rest of the masterpiece: Take a good piece out of that French bread (depending on your hunger level) and cut it in half to open it, but not separate the bread (you know. Like Subway does it.)
Spread a little ‘love’ on each side (that means ‘butter’) and pop it in the toaster oven for just a few minutes to get the outside crispy. Take out the bread and ladle a good amount of that tomato sauce all inside the bread. From there, throw in enough meatballs to satisfy your inner Soprano and cover with more sauce.
Drop two pieces of provolone on top and throw it back in the toaster oven to melt the cheese down. Take out, plate up, and shake a little oregano and parmesan on top. Mange!
After all, it’s just Da(m)n Good Food, so why go out?
