I love toasted cheese bread. I love my panini grill. So, of course the two had to learn to get along. Here is my secret recipe for making the best toasted cheese bread on a panini grill. I let you in on a lot of my secrets, don’t I? I’m thoughtful like that.
First you take slices of sour dough bread. I keep it in the freezer and just pull out however many slices I need. No need to defrost. You also need cheese. I’m using baby swiss here because it’s the best cheese in the world for these. Trust me. Have I steered you wrong yet?
Then you need butter and mayo. Real mayo. Hellmann’s. None of that fake stuff. None of that light stuff. And don’t go trying to sneak in any of that margarine either. Real butter. (and if you use it out of adorable antique butter dishes, so much the better).
Butter one side of the bread, put mayo on the other. And as a total aside, do you know how hard it is to butter on side, mayo the other, hold a camera in one hand–in low light–and get a clear shot? Well, trust me, you don’t want to find out. As another aside, when you get butter on a camera it gets all slippery…I’m just saying. Not that I’d know that for sure.
Then you put it on the panini grill, buttered side down, and set the cheese on the bread. Careful! It’s hot! Don’t burn yourself.
Close the grill. Tap foot impatiently. Wait some more.
In a couple of minutes you have this. With nice crunchy cheese on top. Why the cheese doesn’t stick to the top of the grill is one of the great mysteries of life. But it doesn’t it you just give it some time to get crunchy and yummy.
Notice as the cooking progresses the pictures get less sharp. Now while I’m going to blame it on the low light in the kitchen and not my impatience on getting these last few shots and getting to the eating part…you can decide which theory you want to believe. But have I lied to you yet?? Okay, altered reality a bit… But why let facts get in the way of a good story?
And if you happen to be craving salt–possibly a hold over from last night’s margarita binge, well serve with a side of fritos.
We panini everything. Everything tastes better on a panini. Do you have a panini grill, and if not, why not? Love mine. Gonna take it on a hot date and jump in the back seat with it. :love:
And to any of the males in the family, if you’re reading this, don’t forget to unplug the panini grill when you’re done. (and don’t talk on the cell phone when you’re driving, and the knives don’t go in the dishwasher…)
