A gourmet grilled cheese recipe is a must, in fact several recipes are a good staple to have in your recipe arsenal.
Sometimes all you need is a refrigerator full of leftover ingredients and little ingenuity.
This gourmet grilled cheese recipe came about one night when I came home from work late and didn’t have time to make the dinner I had planned on. What’s funny is that this dinner took about 15 minutes to make and the night prior I hade made a home made gumbo……….which was delicious but took soooo much more time.
What Is In The Gourmet Grilled Cheese Recipe with Charcuterie Meat
Well I guess it’s obvious I used charcuterie meat left over from a cheese charcuterie platter that I had made over the weekend. To avoid too many leftovers, it’s a good idea to find a “sampler” pack of meat. The one I bought at Trader Joe’s had three types of meat in it. Spicy Coppa, Spicy Sopressa Salami and Spicy capocolla. I also had some peppered salami leftover too so of course we added that to the gourmet grilled cheese sandwich as well. The more the merrier!
These meats are labeled spicy but it was really just enough of a kick. You don’t need to use the charcuterie meats that I did above. Almost any grocery store will have Boar’s Head salamis and other types of meat. It’s a nice change from the regular ham and cheese grilled sandwich.
Then I used sliced fresh mozzarella cheese, some Roma tomatoes and a little topper of shredded mozzarella. Just a few ingredients but boy did it taste good.
I also had bought some ciabatta to make garlic bread for the Gumbo the night before. Remember my delicious but time consuming Gumbo? So the ciabatta became the base of this gourmet grilled cheese recipe.
Ciabatta bread is delicious. It originated in Italy, Verona to be exact, and is a white, flat oval bread that is often used for Panini, to dip in soups, or just butter and enjoy.
It’s perfect for a grilled cheese sandwich, the only real problem is that the long slices are a little difficult to flip. If that bothers you then use your favorite taller bread shaped more like a traditional loaf.
If you use unsalted butter (that’s usually all I have in the house) then sprinkle a little kosher salt over the buttered bread, it will add a great amount of flavor.
How To Make The Gourmet Grilled Cheese Recipe with Charcuterie Meat
Preheat skillet over medium-low heat. If the heat is too high then there won’t be enough time to melt the cheese.
Slice the fresh mozzarella and the tomatoes into ¼” to ½” slices. Lay on a cutting board and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Cut the ciabatta bread, or whatever bread you have chosen, into slices about ½” thick. Butter one side of half the pieces of bread. If using unsalted butter sprinkle a little kosher salt on top of the butter. Lay the slices of bread, butter side down, in the skillet.
Then layer the bread slices in the pan with the fresh mozzarella, then the meat slices (folding under to fit the size of the bread), the tomatoes and finally a little sprinkling of shredded cheese. I had mozzarella on hand but cheddar or Mexican blend would taste great too.
If I had had some arugula then I would definitely have added that on top too.
Top the pan with a lid to promote melting the cheese.
Now butter the remaining slices of bread and top the sandwiches with the butter side up. When the bottom slices are a beautiful golden brown you will want to flip the gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.
Because the ciabatta bread slices are so thin I needed to use a spatula and my free hand (to hold the sandwich together) to carefully flip the sandwich. Each time the grilled cheese sandwich started to slide and tilt, but it was easy to slide the ingredients back in place.
Once the second side is golden brown and the cheese has melted remove to a plate. If the cheese is taking too long to melt and the bread is browning too quickly, then lower the temperature and keep the lid on the sandwich pan.
In my pictures I think I would keep the sandwiches on just a little bit longer to melt the cheese more.
This is truly the best grilled cheese recipe, and so easy. What’s not to love?
Gourmet Grilled Cheese Recipe With Charcuterie Meat
Super delicious, super easy with specialty meat or leftovers from a cheese board
Ingredients
- 1/2 Loaf Ciabatta bread sliced into 1/2″ slices
- 4 Tablespoons Butter if using unsalted sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt on each slice
- 24 Slices Charcuterie meat I used spicy coppa, spicy sopressa, spicy capocollo and peppered salami
- 8 Slices Fresh mozzarella about 1/4″ thick
- 3 Roma Tomatoes sliced into 1/4″ slices
- 4 Ounces Shredded mozzarealla or Gruyere or cheddar
- 2 Ounces Fresh arugula or spinach, optional
Instructions
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Preheat skillet over medium-low heat
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Slice mozzarella and tomatoes into 1/4″ slices. Then slice the mozzarella circles in half to fit the bread. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt and let sit. I used about 1/2 teaspoon to cover both the tomatoes and the mozzarella.
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Cut ciabatta, or bread of your choice, into (8) 1/2″ slices. Butter one side of 4 slices of bread, if using unsalted butter then sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt over the butter. Lay the buttered side of the bread down in the heated skillet.
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Build your sandwiches in the skillet. Start with the mozzarella (2 full circle slices per sandwich), then the meat (a total of 6 slices), 2-3 tomato slices and a sprinkling of shredded cheese. If you have arugula or spinach add that now. Top the pan to melt the cheese while you prepare the bread.
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Butter the remaining 4 slices of bread and top the sandwiches. Add a lid to the pan to help melt the cheese.
Check the bottom piece of bread and see if it is golden brown. If it’s cooking too fast turn down the heat. Flip the sandwich when the bottom piece is golden brown.
If using thin, meaning not tall oval pieces, then you will probably need a spatula and a free hand to flip the sandwich or it will fall apart.
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Once flipped, put the lid back on until ready. The whole cooking time only takes about 5-8 minutes depending on your heat and the thickness of your pan.
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