Since I counted my cookbooks and decided that I needed to
cook at least one thing from all of them in order to justify the shelf space, I’ve
(A) purchased at least 5 new cookbooks and (B) not made any sort of effort to blog
my efforts to work through the existing ones. I have, however, actually been
*cooking* from the existing ones even if you don’t hear about it; and Cooking Light
Annual Recipes 2005 is just as much a favorite as the more recent issues have
been. Since we’ve all been collapsing from the gawd-awful heat of the last
month I haven’t been cooking as much as I probably should be – carryout and salads
have been a very big deal – but anything I’ve actually managed to put on the
table has been new and interesting and tasty, and I promise I’ll get more of them
posted soonish. Ish.
In the meantime, here is the best grilled cheese sandwich you’ll
ever make at home, from the June chapter. This definitely falls into the category
of Fancy-Ass Grilled Cheese, and shouldn’t really be compared to the
justifiably-beloved Kraft American Cheese Food Slices on Wonder Bread grilled
cheese – a classic, especially with tomato soup from a can. The cheese and
preserves were already in my fridge (and should be in yours, because goat cheese
belongs everywhere and fig preserves are beautiful on a cheese board and I feel
very strongly that we should all be eating cheese boards on a regular basis). If
you’re the sort of person who has cinnamon raisin bread and fresh basil on
hand, this is going to be no problem whatsoever to whip up for breakfast or
lunch or a snack or a late dinner or just a treat because you’ve been home with
your kids for 5 weeks now and goodness knows you deserve one. And if you have
to go out and buy any of this especially, it’s nice to know you can make these
every day for a couple of weeks and have something to look forward to. Also,
your kids are almost guaranteed to hate some component of this so you can eat
it all by yourself without sharing. If you have wee gourmets in the house, they’re
welcome to make their own.
Scaled down to make 1 sandwich, adapted from Cooking Light AnnualRecipes 2005. I put actual measurements in there so you can scale it up if needed,
but this was totally approximated when I made it.
Goat Cheese and Fig Grilled Cheese Sandwich
1 tablespoon goat cheese (if you can get the super fresh
locally made stuff in a tub, opt for that over the prepackaged log)
½ teaspoon honey (OK, a drizzle – who is going to bother
measuring this?!?!)
¼ teaspoon grated lemon rind, or a swipe or two with the microplane
grater
2 slices cinnamon raisin bread
½ tablespoon fig preserves
½ teaspoon thinly sliced fresh basil, or 1 good-sized leaf
Combine the goat cheese, honey, and lemon zest. Spread over
a slice of cinnamon raisin bread. Top with the fig preserves and basil and the
second slice of bread.
Spray with bread with cooking spray and cook on medium for
about 2 minutes, pressing down on the sandwich during cooking with a small cast-iron
pan or anything you have handy that can take the heat and the grease and not get
something disgusting on your food. Flip the sandwich after 2 minutes and replace
the weight while the second side cooks. Take great comfort in knowing that even
if you turn the heat up too high and your bread looks burnt, this is going to
be a sweet, tangy, oozing mass of utter deliciousness and it’s well worth
washing 2 pans.
