Grilled Cheese for Grown-Ups, Linkage, and Being Banned

There is a wild and nasty rumor flying around Twitter and the Blogosphere that today is National Grilled Cheese Day. Now THIS is a valid and worthy commemoration befitting the Founders' spirit of a national holiday. It seems like everyone should get the day off or something in observance. Go home now. I'm closing the banks. Oh wait, my delusions of grandeur are showing again.

Plain grilled cheese sandwiches are definitely good and obviously have their place... But let's grow it up a little. Jules' Grown-Up Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Grilled Cheese for Grown-Ups

What you need per sandwich:

2 slices of multi-grain bread
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of pesto
4 slices of mozzarella cheese
2 slices of tomato ((I actually used cherry tomatoes cut into slices))
4 leaves of basil

Grill them up:

Start by pre-heating your pan of choice without spraying anything on it over a medium heat.  I have a sandwich press that I like.  It seals the edges and the sandwiches look nice, but it is a total bitch to clean because the plates aren't removable.  You can also use a grill pan with a press if you have one of those ((I'll put a link at the bottom if you decide you need one and I know you probably do)) or you can always just use a frying pan and smash the damn thing the old fashioned way.

Butter the two slices of bread on one slide.  Flip one piece over and "butter" it with the pesto.  ((My name is Jules and I'm a pesto-holic.  I seriously love that shit.)) Layer that side with the tomatoes, the basil, and then put the mozzarella on top.  Quick tip: slice your tomatoes as thinly as you can so that they actually warm up.  I hate it when there is cold crap inside a hot sandwich.  That might just be me though.

Carefully transfer that piece of bread to the pan.  ((Hopefully the mozzarella on top will keep you from spilling the contents.)) Grab the other slice and put it butter side up ((I don't know how elementary some of y'all might be.))  Smash it.  You can use the grill press if you have that, a smaller pan, or even a spatula.  But seriously, smash it down.

Let it cook for a couple of minutes, or just until when you peek at the bottom side, it is getting golden brown.  Flip it ONCE and toast the other side.  The cheese should be melty in another two minutes.

Cut it diagonally because that is the correct way to slice sandwiches.  If you do it up and down into "halves" I'm not going to talk to you anymore.

Melty Mozzarella

Nutritional Info:  Let's call it about 400 calories, but this will depend on the type of bread and the amount of butter, pesto, and cheese you use.  Not the lightest thing in the world, but that's okay.

 *****

In other news, my margarita chicken recipe was linked on Healthy Living Blogs' Wednesday Barbecue Recipes.   Some of the other recipes look good too.  Check them out.

In an act of shameless self promotion, if you are looking for a grill press or any other kitchen-type stuff, contribute to my pesto fund by shopping here, would ya? I started doing this primarily to earn free kitchen stuff for my ventures. To date, I have earned over $1,200 in free stuff, so help a girl out. Cookware is expensive.

What else? We managed to get temporarily suspended on Twitter which I found hilarious. I suppose most people wouldn't think so but I thought it was awesome. You can follow me to see if I manage to do it again... The sidebar should have a link. Username is @julia_steele. In further shameless self-promotion, you can always "share" these posts on social networking sites using the buttons below too. Please and thank you and have a lovely day.

I think that's all for today. I'm entering a fiction contest and I can't wait to get to work on it before I need to redirect my attention to the private cooking lesson I'm giving this Saturday and to the party I'm doing on Sunday evening. GOOD TIMES. My "work" is better than your work.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta, Can-A-Rama, and Gargamel

What is a step up from burning the candle at both ends?  Burning it from the middle?  Just melting the bastard down to wax?  To the extreme, nuking the entire candle factory?  I might be at that point.  I have eleventy thousand and twenty-eight things going on at once which is fracking fantastic, but I will confess that last night I thought, "I don't know what in the hell I am doing.  With anything.  At all.  <<High-pitched scream here.>>"  I then realized, um, yeah, I do know what I'm doing, that isn't the problem.  I just don't know where I'm going.  I then decided that while I may not know where I am going, as Bowie said, I know it won't be boring.  And that is way more than good enough for me.  I hate boring.  Boring is my mortal enemy.  Boring is my Gargamel.  ((I wonder if anyone has ever referenced David Bowie and the Smurfs in the same paragraph before?  Doubtful.))  

*****  

Let's make something.  This isn't complicated but I would eat this every single day for the rest of forever.  No, I'm not exaggerating.  Well, not much.  Pasta with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and Parmesan.

For two:

1 cup of uncooked pasta ((As previously discussed when I first started writing here, I prefer orecchiette, which I still have trouble spelling.))
2 tablespoons of pesto  ((I provided instructions on how to make your own pesto in that same post or you can use a prepared kind.  I like Progresso's best if I don't make it fresh.))
4 tablespoons-ish sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons-ish toasted pine-nuts
1 tablespoon-ish of fresh-grated Parmesan

Go:

Boil the water for the pasta and follow the package directions.

Slice the tomatoes into small pieces, after draining the oil.

Toast the pine-nuts in a small sauté pan for 2-3 minutes over a medium-high heat, just until they get a little bit browned.

When the pasta is done, drain it well, and shake the shit out of it to get the extra water out ((particularly with orecchiette which tends to hold water in the little cuppy-things)).  In a small bowl, mix together the pesto and the pasta.  Remove it to a plate and top with the tomatoes, pine nuts, and some Parmesan.

Seriously, every day.

Nutritional info:  Approximately 400 calories and 8 grams of fat if you go easy on the cheese and don't use a lot of oil in the pesto.  When I buy prepared pesto, I actually spoon out the oil that has floated to the top.  I usually get like 2-3 tablespoons out of a really small jar.  Hey, every little bit counts dammit.

*****

There is a LOT of goodness coming up around here...  Lots, lots, lots.  But I have to say I am really excited for what I am calling the Can-a-Rama next week.  We have ordered FIFTY POUNDS of Roma tomatoes and will be saucing up a storm.  My kitchen is going to be a bloody disaster!  Ooh I can't wait.  Prego can suck it!

Pesto, Pizza, and Scientific Proof

Weekends require pizza.  No, really.  Scientific studies by people with lots of letters after their names, white lab coats, and smug, condescending attitudes have proven it.*

97% of statistics are made up and 84% of readers won't remember the number cited at the beginning of a statistic.*

*I just totally made that up.

Anyway, despite lack of scientific proof, my absolute favorite is mozzarella, tomato, basil, and pesto pizza.  

84% better weekend, guaranteed.*

There are two ((well, way more than two, but let's just talk about two)) ways to do this.  The quick way and the less quick way which really only have one difference:  the pesto ((aka the stuff I would bathe in if I could make enough of it.))

Making your own pesto is not hard, and it is so, so worth it.  Here's what you need:

-2 cups packed, fresh basil leaves
-1/4 cup toasted pine nuts ((you can buy them toasted or put raw pine nuts in the oven on a cookie sheet for a little bit or do them in a saute pan with a little bit of olive oil))
-1 garlic clove
-1/2 tsp of salt, plus one pinch
-1/4 tsp of fresh-cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

What you do:

Put everything BUT the olive oil and the Parmesan in a blender or food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.  This will be a process because you basically want it very, very small, so there will be a lot of scraping of the sides.  It's all right.  Hang on.  You can do it.

With the machine running in spurts, slowly add a little bit of olive oil at a time until it reaches the consistency that you want.  Transfer the pesto to a bowl and mix in the Parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and be careful not to eat the entire bowl in the name of taste-testing.

Now the purists will be saying, "You can't use a food processor, you should use a mortar and pestle, you idiot" ((which I accidentally spelled as "pistol," Dr. Freud.))  But most people won't take the time for that, and hell, most people won't take the time of this way ((we're going to the "jar version" in a second.))  But if you want to be authentic, go for it.  This one from Le Creuset looks pretty and would be fun the one time you ever use it until it hides on a top shelf in your kitchen, untouched, for years.

Now for the pizza.  You can use whatever you like, but I like to keep it simple.  All you need for two servings is:

-One of piece of Naan ((Target has a good one made by Archer Farms.  Trader Joe's also have good ones.))
-1/4 cup of pesto ((if you can't bring yourself to make your own, Progresso's is quite good, I'm not a fan of Trader Joe's for some reason))
-1-2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
-4 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese
-One fresh tomato
-Red pepper flakes
-Mediterranean Oregano flakes
-More of the fresh basil
-A little bit of the fresh Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 ((or check the package.))  Spray a pizza pan ((preferably the kind with holes on the bottom)) with olive oil cooking spray ((or you can put it directly on the rack.))  Throw the Naan on there and using a knife, add a thin layer of the pesto.  Less really is more here, don't overdo it.  Sprinkle on your pine nuts and then add thin slices of tomato.  Layer relatively thin slices of the mozzarella on top, leaving some gaps.  Sprinkle the top with the red pepper and oregano and pop it in the oven for about 8 minutes.  I like to do the final minute under the broiler to make it nice and golden and bubbly.

Once you remove it from the oven, add some fresh, finely chopped basil and maybe a little more Parmesan.

100% goodness

Nutritional Info:  Ah, who cares?  Calories don't count on the weekend.  But, half would be around 350 depending on how much cheese you use.