Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Growing up a grilled cheese sandwich meant 2 slices of white bread buttered on the outside and a process cheese slice on the inside cooked in the fry pan and served with ketchup. We then graduated to real cheddar as I got older and for everyday lunch that is what I make at home for the kids all be it on better bread. There is a whole different level of grilled cheese now and that is what I am talking about here. All it takes is a little imagination and some prep time.

What you need
panini grill, if you don't have a panini grill a cast iron pan or heavy bottom frying pan will work
preheat the panini grill to just above medium
s/s mixing bowl

3 Cheese Grilled Cheese

Cheeses
-  4-6 slices caccia cavalo
- 1 ball fiore di latt, sliced into 6
- provolone piccante.
- Ciabatta bun
- truffle butter

Truffle butter ingredients

1/2 lb soft butter
1 shallot very finely minced
1 small clove garlic very finely minced
1tsp white truffle oil
1/2 lemon juiced
3 sprigs parsley, very finely chopped
sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a s/s mixing bowl add all the ingredients to the soft butter and beat together with a whisk. Adjust the seasoning to taste with S & P. This recipe is an approximation and may require some tweaking, but will be a good starting point.

To make your sandwich
- Cut the ciabatta bun as a chapon (this means to trim off the top part of the bun and then slice the bun in half (horizontally). Cutting the bun like this gives you a soft grilled top and a crisp crunchy bottom.
- Layer the cheese - caccia cavalo followed by fiore di latte, and topped with provolone piccante.
- butter the top slice, on the outside and put in the panini press.
press until golden brown and the cheese is nicely melted.

If you are a big fan of truffle oil you can put a few drops of oil on each layer of cheese.
If you do not have a panini grill and are using a fry pan, use 2 thick cut slices of good quality bread and butter both slices with truffle butter.

Tip - fiore di latte and bocconini cheese tend to be very bland, to improve the cheeses flavour make a solution of warm water and sea salt. Allow the cheese to soak and soften slightly in the salt water.

Grilled Cheese & Bacon
This is an absolutely incredible sandwich, but requires some prep and time. Prepare the braised pork hocks at least 1 day ahead.
Ingredients
Ciabatta bun
Gruyere cheese, buy the real gruyere (sliced)
Old white cheddar (sliced)
Braised smoked pork hock, picked
Bechamel sauce

Braised Pork Hock
2 pork hocks cut in 3 slices each. Ask your butcher to knock these through the band saw for you. (like osso bucco)
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 stock carrot, peeled and chopped
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf, fresh if you have
A few black peppercorns
1 clove
2lt Chicken stock, brought to a simmer
1 cup White wine (a Riesling works very nicely)
2 oz. sunflower oil

Heat your oil in a heavy bottom rondo or large dutch oven. Lightly brown the pork hock and retrieve from the pan. Add your onions & carrot, and brown, then add the celery, thyme, bay leaf, black peppercorns, clove. Add the pork hocks back to the rondo, deglaze with the white wine and reduce by half. Add your chicken stock, bring to a simmer and taste. Adjust the seasoning keeping in mind that the hocks are salted and the braising liquid will reduce. Braise uncovered at 325 degrees until starting to fall off the bone. After you have taken the braise out of the oven allow it to cool for 1 hour. Using a slotted spoon lift the pork hocks out of the braising liquid and into a clean container. A 4 inch deep rectangle will work well. After you have removed all the hocks, strain the braising liquid and discard the veg and herbs. Pour the strained stock over your pork hocks and allow to cool completely and then refridgerate overnight. Remove the pork hock from the braising liquid and pick the meat off the bone. Reserve the braising liquid for another use - it is great in a split pea soup.

Bechamel

1/2lt milk
1/2 onion sliced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
5 tbsp flour
1 bay leaf
1 clove

Melt the butter of medium low heat. Add the onion and sweat until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour creating a roux. Do not let the onion or roux brown.
In a separate pan heat the milk with the clove and bay leaf and steep for 15 minutes.
Slowly incorporate the hot milk into the roux whisking as you add to keep the sauce smooth. Let the sauce cook out for 20 minutes. I remove the bay leaf and clove, but blend in the onion with a hand blender. Season with sea salt, white pepper, nutmeg. Always grate nutmeg from whole. Remove from the pot and allow to cool.

To make the Sandwich

Cut the ciabatta as a chapon, like in the previous sandwich.
Open the ciabatta, on one side put a couple of slices of gruyere, on the other side a couple of slices of old white cheddar. For the middle of the sandwich mix together a generous amount of the picked pork hock with some of the bechamel. Press until golden brown, the cheese is melted and the bechamel/pork hock mixture is heated through.

Note - if you make this sandwich to thick it will not cook through properly and the bread will burn by the time it is cooked through.

This is a challenging sandwich that takes some time and work, but it is the best 'grilled cheese and bacon' sandwich going.

Good Eating,

David