Taking Grilled Cheese Up a Notch

Last week, we took a day trip out of town to go see the Immersive VanGogh art exhibit in Charlotte, NC. The exhibit was very cool, bringing the famous artist’s works to life in a large warehouse at Charlotte’s CAMP North End event venue.

The area gets it’s name from it’s past history as the Charlotte Area Munitions Plant. The group of warehouses has served many purposes over the years, most recently being turned into the public space it is today. It embraces it’s history, while providing exciting new spaces for art, work, food and play.

We had tickets for the exhibit on a Monday, and it turns out many of the food and shops around the exhibition hall are closed on Mondays. Fortunately, there were still 3 or 4 food options open so we were able to eat some fun food on a gorgeous day and imagine how busy and exciting it will be when this Covid mess is over.

One of our favorites was a Bistro Grilled Cheese from Bleu Barn, which was grilled Brie with bacon and habanero strawberry jam on sourdough toast. It was amazing and immediately made me think about duplicating it at home. So that is this week’s “recipe”, or really more of a how-to.

The basis of every good sandwich is quality bread. I love sourdough and Aldi sells a great loaf of pre-sliced sourdough. Aldi is also a great resource for Brie and many other delicious cheeses. You can use any type of jam you like, but a sweet and spicy jam really makes this sandwich so amazing. I found my Strawberry Jalapeño jam from Val’s Gourmet Baked Goods in Washington, NC. Sadly, she doesn’t ship, but I am sure you can find something similar online or maybe at your local farmers market.

The first step is to cook up some bacon. My preferred way to cook real bacon is in the oven. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and set a baking rack on top of that. Spread the bacon across the rack and place it in a cold oven. Heat the oven to 400ºF. After 10 minutes, carefully move the pan and flip each piece of bacon. Return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the bacon is the right amount of crispy. Drain the bacon on paper towels and set aside while you prepare the rest of the sandwich.

Slice the wheel of Brie into strips. I had just enough to cover 4 sandwiches, but my bread was pretty large. Leave the rind on, as it will keep the creamy cheese from oozing all over the griddle before your sandwiches are done.

Heat a griddle or frying pan to medium heat. Butter 4 slices of sourdough and lay them butter-side down on the griddle or pan. Spread the sweet and spicy jam on the top side of each slice of bread, then layer on the cheese and then the bacon. Finally, add the final slice of buttered bread to each sandwich, butter side out.

Grill or fry each sandwich until golden brown on each side, and the cheese is nice and melty. Slice and serve immediately with your favorite sandwich sides.

These elevated grilled cheese sandwiches are the prefect combination. They are creamy, crunchy, salty, spicy and sweet all at once. It’s a party in your mouth. They come together quickly with minimal work and don’t require heating up the whole kitchen, making them great for summer evenings. But they will also be great come Fall, next to a warm bowl of soup and maybe a little slice of apple thrown in there, too.