Grilled Cheese!!

I know, I know, it doesn’t take a culinary degree to make a grilled cheese. I practically lived off them in college (my three main food groups were PB & J, grilled cheese, and poached eggs). But why must we relegate these cheesy delights to two slices of Wönderbread (is there an umlaut in there?) and a square of florescent yellow, lab-created American Cheese “singles”? Is that even allowed to be considered cheese?! Come on! We can do better…

This is as much a post about two food products as it is about grilled cheese. Product number one: Dalmatia Fig Spread. Generally served on a cheese board, I could eat this stuff with a spoon. It goes well with gouda in particular. Someday I’ll try to make this myself, but for now, it’s a great supermarket pick-up. Product numero dos (I’m learning Spanish in the kitchen): Honeycup Uniquely Sharp Mustard. Worth every penny. Drastically better than any mustard product I’ve ever encountered. I know I’m getting awkwardly serious about a mustard product, but this is a big deal. Just do it.

So like I said, it doesn’t take a culinary degree to get a hold of some cheese, pick up the aforementioned super-good fig & mustard spreads, a tomato, and some thyme. My flavor combos were Fig Spread, Gruyere, Grated Parmesan, and thyme on one, and Honeycup Mustard, Sharp Cheddar, and Tomato on another. I can’t decide which one I liked better so I am writing about both!

Pretty much your key to success is good bread and good cheese. Take parmesan for example. If you buy the pre-grated stuff, you’re buying the lowest-quality, runt-of-the-litter bits of parm that they can’t sell whole. Buy a block o’ parm and grate it yourself—it will actually taste like parmesan! And a legitimate loaf of bread is unbeatable. So, you know the drill… slice up the bread, spread your toppings, and melt it down in a pan. It’s so easy and, with your fig & mustard spreads, SO delicious.

Recipe:

• Gruyere
• Parmesan
• Thyme
• Dalmatia Fig Spread

-or-

• Cheddar
• Tomato
• Honeycup Uniquely Sharp Mustard

• Good Bread