One of my good friends and fellow grilled cheese enthusiasts, Christian Torres, came and visited the city last week.  Torres is an amazing photographer who resides in Atlanta, Georgia... AND he just so happened to make a nifty exchange with me.  I agreed to make him lots of GC's if he agreed to use his photography skills to make my blog look a little prettier.  He agreed and these are the lip-smacking results!

We got really creative when we were thinking of new concoctions. After hours days of debating we finally settled on the following ingredients:


- 2 slices of french bread
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 handful of shredded gruyere
- 1 handful of shredded swiss
- a few fresh basil leaves
- however much calabrese salami you like :)




This one begins like most of the other sammie's on my site... Gather ingredients and sprinkle half of the cheese on one slice of bread.  Remember to try and center it around the middle so it won't ooze out and burn the cheese.


Next, place the salami on top of the cheese. Oh and don't be shy, feel free to stack it as high as you like!



 Ok, now sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pile.  Remember to keep that cheese centered because this is turning into a big boy.


Done?? K, now put his top hat on.  Isn't that a good lookin'?


Now here's the tricky part:  Because this is so big you're going to want to be really careful when transfering this pup to the the skillet.  If you're confident enough, go ahead and heat the skillet to medium and drizzle some olive oil in the pan.  You'll also want to use a weight if you have one on hand to try and smush the sammie and help it all stick together.



 If any of the cheese falls out, don't worry, just scoop it up with your spatula to avoid that nasty burnt taste. Once it starts to heat up, put the press on top of this baby and wait a few minutes until it turns golden brown on the bottom.


Hot and crusty like the one below? Flip it over and try to equal out the color.  If not, you can put the press back on top to lend a helping hand.


After it's nice and golden on both sides, take the GC off the stove top and slice it immediately! You're going to want to do this because gruyere and swiss are firmer cheeses. Unlike softer cheeses like brie or tallegio, once these cheeses melt, they create a glue rather than a cheesey ooze.


Also, if you're a dipper like I am,  try this sammie with some yellow mustard and enjoy!


So if you end up making this delicious GC and/or enjoy these badass photo's you should really check out Christian's blog.  You can find it at http://tuckedintanktop.blogspot.com.  Thanks again Torres! You da bombbbbbbb <3

xoxo,

GCS

My good friend Peter and I go to brunch EVERY WEEKEND. Unfortunately during these meals he has to listen to all my wild schemes about future endeavors. Today however, he came up with an awesome plan. He had the idea to take the original birds in a nest approach and then proceeded to blow my mind times ten by using aged gruyère, tomato chutney, and an eggy grilled on sourdough bread. Here is the lip-smacking result!



This is as easy and delightful as it looks and it only took these ingredients to get there.
-two pieces of thinly sliced sourdough bread
-one large egg
-grated aged gruyère cheese
-tomato chutney
-salted butter
-my all time favorite pink Himalayan salt



To begin we cut out a triangle in the center of the bread. We looked everywhere to find a cool cookie cutter but the weather was just so dreary we gave up and decided to cut a triangle with a paring knife. I still think it looks pretty even without the fancy shapes <3.



After that we sprinkled the gruyère on top of the bread and then drizzled the tomato chutney on top.



Then we covered the layers with even more cheese and laid the other piece of bread on top. We also decided to make a mini grilled cheese out of the triangle that we cut out.





Next we buttered the bread and placed it on the skilled which was heated between low and medium. After letting the bread warm up for a hot minute we cracked the egg into the cut-out triangle.



Let that eggy cook!



Once the egg was cooked about half way and the bread was a crusty golden brown we flipped the sammie really quick so the egg wouldn't pour out everywhere.



Once the yolk was soft and tender to the touch (we like our yolks runny) we took the scrumptiousness off the stove.



We immediately sliced that baby in half and watched the runny goodness pour out.



AND THEN, taadaa!!! we proceded to dip the grilled cheeeeee in the runny yolk and ate until we couldn't eat any more.



xoxo,

GCS