A grilled cheese can be truly luxurious
Georgeanne Brennan, an American with a longtime fondness for French cuisine, included this luxury version of the grilled cheese sandwich in her new cookbook, La Vie Rustic: Cooking and Living in the French Style (Simon & Schuster, 2017).
Besides using French cheese, she fills her tall and succulent mealin-one sandwich with roasted red peppers and Dijon mustard. Brennan says you can call it a croque monsieur even though you have skipped the usual ham and béchamel sauce.
In her collection of more than 100 recipes, Brennan encourages cooking the best ingredients without religiously following a recipe.
The foods of Provence, where she owns property, and California, her other home, are blended in this fine book about seasonal cooking. Anecdotes and cooking tips make it a warming read from one of America’s finest food writers. Serves: 3
3 thick slices sourdough bread, cut in half, or 6 slices regular white bread 4 tbsp (60 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature 3 tsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard 1/4 lb (125 g) Comté, Gruyère or Emmental cheese, shredded 1 1/2 roasted red peppers in oil, drained, patted dry
1. Spread one side of each bread slice with about 1 tsp (5 mL) butter. Then spread with 1/2 tsp (2 mL) mustard.
2. Divide the cheese equally between 3 slices, followed by half a roasted red pepper on each slice. Cover with the remaining bread slices, mustard side down.
3. Butter the top of each sandwich with about 1 tsp (5 mL) butter.
4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Place the sandwiches, buttered side down, in the pan and gently press until the edges begin to turn golden, about 3 minutes.
5. Butter the tops of the sandwiches with about 1 tsp (5 mL) butter each, then flip the sandwiches and cook, pressing gently, until the second side is golden, about 2 minutes more.
Serve at once.