Grilled Cheese for a Bad Day with Scallion Mayonnaise
Imagine, you are in the middle of a work day. It's 2 PM and your anxiety is through the roof as the day toggles between the dings of Slack notifications and your constant need to pee (which in turn makes you think of your mortality because who pees this much in their early 30's, you must be aging and therefore DYING). You say, fuck it, life is too short to drown in existential dread, I must find a soft surface and eat a damn good grilled cheese!
And so the laptop lid closes early, and your pursuit to treat yourself with grilled cheese begins, coworkers be damned. Despite your mild lactose intolerance, you find some nice sharp cheddar and gruyere in the cheese aisle, because eating fancy cheese while having to constantly rip a fart is life's way of letting you know not to take itself too seriously. The cheese is slowly melted on top of thick slices of your favorite loaf of bread, oozing alongside tart slices of apples and a scallion mayonnaise. You dip the sandwich into its best friend creamy tomato and ginger soup. The couch becomes filled with crumbs, shuffling its way down the buttcrack of your sofa to join the one ankle sock and Apple remote you still haven't found, but you don't care because you're watching Top Chef while eating your second grilled cheese. There's something so satisfying about indulging in food while watching other people cook even more delicious food, the perfect remedy to a bad day.
At a glance
Yield
4 Grilled CheeseTime
20 minutesIngredients
Bread
1 loaf of good bread (sourdough or walnut bread are yum)
Butter
Filling
4 ounces sharp cheddar
4 ounces gruyere
1 large apple, thinly sliced
Spread
4 scallions, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon honey
Preparation
Prep cheese and bread
Finely grate cheese on a grater and place into a bowl. (If you live in Seattle, I love using just a block of Beecher's Flagship). Cut bread into 1 inch slices.
Make spread
In a pan on medium heat, pan fry diced scallions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 1 minute until sizzling and fragrant. Once cooked, place scallions into a mixing bowl and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, kosher salt, and honey and mix. Pour everything into a blender and blend until smooth (you can also use an emulsion blender). Set aside into a container until sandwich assembly.
Make sandwiches
On a large pan on low-medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add 2 slices of bread onto the pan, then place a generous sprinkle of finely grated cheese on one piece of bread. Cook for 6 minutes until the cheese has melted and the bottoms have crisped and browned.
Turn the heat off and spread a spoonful of the scallion mayonnaise on the other piece of bread without cheese. Add a few slices of apple on the mayo side (leave some gaps between slices so the bread can stick to each other), then flip one slice onto the other to close the sandwich. Press down with your spatula for 10 seconds or so to let the two sides get to know each other and combine. Cut in half and serve warm! Repeat with remaining slices of bread, cheese, and spread until you've eaten desired amount of grilled cheese. This grilled cheese also pairs well with a good dip into creamy tomato carrot and ginger soup.
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Bread
1 loaf of good bread (sourdough or walnut bread are yum)
Butter
Filling
4 ounces sharp cheddar
4 ounces gruyere
1 large apple, thinly sliced
Spread
4 scallions, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon honey
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