So, what do you do with leftover cheese after throwing several fondue parties of biblical proportions? Make grilled cheese, of course.
I've long been a lover of grilled cheese. It was my favorite lunch growing up. In fact, there was a time that it was the only lunch I would eat. My mother would butter up some white bread, slap in some Kraft American Cheese Slices, and fry it all up in her black cast iron pan. When I turned eight and had subsequently developed a more discerning taste, I would request that my mother pop in onions or sliced dill pickles or tomatoes. If I was feeling really experimental? I'd got for all three at once.
These days I like my grilled cheese pretty pure and simple, but I also go for a higher caliber cheese than Kraft. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for Kraft cheese. I mean, both Kraft American Cheese Slices and pre-shredded bagged cheddar satisfies my late-night, deadline-driven cravings for trashy cheese, but when it comes to my grilled cheese sandwiches, I go gourmet.
First thing to remember is that you want a good melting cheese for your sandwich. Even if it weren't the case that we had recently made floods of fondue and had gobs of Gruyère lying around, Gruyère is still my grilled cheese cheese of choice. My COC, as it were. Emmi Cave-Aged Gruyère has a nutty, intense flavor with a touch of sweetness that actually balances very well well with sourdough bread. Other semi-soft cheeses I might use are Comte, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Raclette, or even a summer milk Morbier. A few of my cheesemongering friends like to take their grilled cheese a step farther and mix their grated semi-soft cheese with a fresh cheese like chèvre or fromage blanc to get a really creamy consistency, but I haven't tried that yet.
