Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Parmesan Crusts
Grilled cheese and tomato soup, a cafeteria classic that has withstood the test of time and rightly so, it’s freaking delicious. Even with spongy white bread stuffed with vibrantly colored government cheese, served alongside a pool of engineered sweetened tomato water, it still warms my heart as I remember the crunch of the toasted bread and the immediate ooze of the soul satisfying molten cheese. What could be better? DUNKIN! Dipping the triangular tip of that golden crispy sandwich into the hot tomato soup, heaven here on planet earth!
Now, what if we took that classic pairing and upgraded all the ingredients? Well, it’s crazy tasty and crazy good. My bacon version of Sally Lunn bread is a perfect choice. Stylishly symmetrical with bacon in every bite, this dense-crumbed, richly flavored bread toasts up beautifully. The Parmesan crust offers, even more, crunch to this classic recipe and doubles the cheese.
As a child, my favorite grilled cheese was the kind stuffed with tomatoes. I’m a certified tomato freak and adding vine-ripe tomatoes with a touch of salt to aged white cheddar is truly one of my favorite things and doubles up on the tomato when served with tomato soup. Just like we did with the Parmesan crust, we double the flavah and we double the fun!
If aged cheddar isn’t your thing, I also offer a barebones version using Italian Taleggio. A semi-soft, washed-rind, smear-ripened Italian cheese, Taleggio has a thin crust and a strong aroma. Its bark is worse than its bite as the flavor is comparatively mild with an unusual fruity tang. As it’s a semi-soft, properly ripened, this cheese is almost already melted, making your job at the griddle that much easier.
My Cream of Grilled Tomato Soup is one of, if not the recipe, that launched my career. With literally nothing but tomatoes and cream simply seasoned with salt and pepper, properly made, it’s almost magical. How could something so simple, so elementary, be so ridiculously good? You can make the soup days in advance or even months if you freeze it. By utilizing VacMaster vacuum technology, you can easily extend the shelf life of this soup by days, weeks and even months. So why crack open a can when you can gently warm your soup to perfect serving temperature in the SV1 circulator alongside one of my upgraded versions of the grilled cheese sandwiches of my youth?!
Ingredients:
• 8 slices Sally Lunn Bacon Bread
• 1 cup unsalted "sweet” butter, at room temperature, divided use
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
For the white cheddar tomato, grilled cheese:
• 8-10, or as needed slices cheddar cheese, white, aged three years or longer
• 2 large tomatoes, red ripe, cored and sliced thin kosher salt, coarse for the Taleggio Grilled Cheese
• 8-10, or as needed slices Taleggio cheese
• Cream of Grilled Tomato Soup
Directions:
1. Spread out bread slices and spread each with about 1 tablespoon of the softened butter.
2. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on each slice and press firmly into bread.
3. Melt about 4 ounces of butter and pour half into large skillet preheated on medium-high.
4. In a large nonstick skillet place, a few of the bread slices in skillet or as many as it can hold comfortably, parmesan-crusted side down.
For the white cheddar and tomato grilled cheese:
1. Arrange 1 slice or so of the cheddar on each bread slice and top two with thin slices of the tomatoes seasoned with a bit of the salt and griddle undisturbed about 7 minutes.
2. As the cheese slices begin to soften top with the remaining bread slices parmesan side up.
3. Flip sandwich slices and grill the other side until crispy, then set aside.
4. Wipe skillet, add remaining melted butter and repeat with remaining bread with cheeses.
5. Assemble sandwiches and let sit 3-5 minutes before serving.
For the Taleggio grilled cheese:
1. Arrange a few slices of the Taleggio on each bread slice and griddle undisturbed about 7 minutes or so.
2. As the cheese slices begin to soften top with one of the remaining bread slices parmesan side up.
3. Flip sandwich slices and grill briefly on the other side until crispy, then set aside.
4. Wipe skillet, add remaining melted butter and repeat with remaining bread with toppings.
5. Assemble sandwiches and let sit 3-5 minutes before serving.
6. After a few minutes of resting serve the grilled cheese sandwiches with the Cream of Grilled Tomato Soup.
