Recipe | Grilled Cheese Panini

Nothing is quite as upsetting as ordering a grilled cheese from a restaurant only to be greeted by a sandwich with tomatoes, bacon, pickles even, and Lord knows what else. I assert that a grilled cheese should contains nothing more than bread, butter, and cheese. This recipe is just that. Panini press required.

Ingredients

• 2 slices artisan white bread (e.g. sourdough, Tuscan, etc.)
• 2 thin slices mild/medium cheddar
• 1 thin slice provolone
• Salted butter

You can opt to use a whole wheat or whole grain bread, but I find that the taste somewhat overpowers the rest of the sandwich. You might choose sharp cheddar in mild or medium cheddar's stead, but sharp cheddar is a little too pungent for me to eat in such a quantity on a sandwich.

Steps

1. Preheat panini press
2. Tear cheeses slices into halves or quarters to fit bread geometry
3. Place torn cheese slices distributed as evenly as possible onto slice of bread to minimize hanging cheese
4. Spread butter onto both external sides of completed sandwich, the more the merrier
5. Place sandwich onto hot panini press, and lower top half of press to begin grilling both sides
6. Inspect sandwich periodically, and when both sides darkened grill marks, carefully extract sandwich as to avoid creating a hand-panini

Conclusion

Look at that! A grilled cheese with no nonsense. You can pick up a cheap panini press for around $30. Of course, you can experiment with different types of cheese and bread. Standard shelf-stable sandwich bread and/or Kraft singles will yield disappointing results, though.