April is National Grilled Cheese month! How is it possible I've not heard of this until now?
I love cheese. I love bread, and I really love them together. So is it any wonder that grilled cheese is my all-time favorite food? So crisp yet gooey and cheesey - Matt loves it when I talk foodie. Who doesn't love a grilled cheese sandwich? (If you answer no, I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore.) Rory and Myer eat it up, too. Again, I'm not sure how, within moderation, you can possibly go wrong with bread and cheese.
A little history lesson, courtesy of the San Francisco Examiner:
According to Foodtimeline.org, cooked bread and cheese were popular among many ancient cultures but the earliest recipes can be found in Ancient Roman cookbooks. Today’s grilled cheese sandwiches derived from some of these early recipes. The actual inventor of the sandwich is unknown, but the modern grilled cheese sandwiches many American families are familiar with today date back to the 1920s. Sliced white bread and American cheese were popular in many markets and very inexpensive. Thus, the sandwich was a cheap and easy to make treat.
Even at it's worst, it's still pretty finger lickin' good. It's simple - bread, cheese, butter - and yet it's not really because the possibilities are endless. What kind of cheese? What kind of bread bread, and how thick? Then there's how you make it and plate it, from the greasy spoon to gourmet everyone has their own version. I love that Roadfood features Pacific Oyster Bar's version with Tillamook and shrimp (it's in Oregon, duh) where the shrimp are sustainable! (Yeah, I just had to throw that in there, it's what I do.)
I prefer whole wheat or sourdough bread and colby jack cheese; right now I'm liking Trader Joe's multigrain cracked sourdough. And it's always, repeat always, cut in triangles. Sometimes gruyere/sharp cheddar/bleu cheese, tomato or basil join the party. And tomato soup has a standing invitation, too - Matt and I like the roasted red pepper and tomato soup from Pacific Foods (there's a low sodium version) for a little kick. Watch out, though, it's "too spicy" on the Rory-meter. The kid does like black pepper on his soup and mac and cheese, though.
So here's some cheesey goodness in honor of this most sacred of months:
9 gourmet recipes from Hugging the Coast (featuring Alton Brown)
What's yours?
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