Ham-Taleggio Grilled Cheese

Today for lunch, i cooked for Bobby and my mom; she stayed home with a cold, so ive been cooking for her this week.

I was in the mood for sandwiches and cheese. So i figured i would try this variation of a grilled cheese. I couldnt find taleggio (is a semi-soft, washed-rind cheese that is characteristically aromatic yet mild in flavor and features tangy, meaty notes with a fruity finish. The texture of the cheese is moist-to-oozy with a very pleasant melt-in-your-mouth feel.), so i substituted for Brie instead since its tangy and almost oozy.

Food Network Magazine: May 2010 - yield: 4

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 8 thin slices white bread
• 10 ounces taleggio cheese, rind removed, sliced
• 8 ounces thinly sliced ham
• 1 green apple, thinly sliced

Preparation:

Melt 1 tablespoon butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes. (For a shortcut, use onion marmalade in place of the caramelized onions.)

Lay out 4 slices of bread. Top with half the cheese, then half the ham. Layer the caramelized onions, apple slices and the remaining ham and cheese on top, then the remaining bread slices.

Wipe out the skillet; melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-low heat. Add 2 sandwiches and cook, pressing gently with a spatula, until the bottom is golden and the cheese begins to melt, about 4 minutes.

Flip and cook until golden, about 4 more minutes. Repeat with the remaining butter and sandwiches.

Since i made it with Brie, it went really well with the green apples and the green apples went really, really well with the caramelized onions, funny enough. My mom liked it but she said it was too much onions for her but Bobby and i had no complaints. Fruit and cheese is pretty amazing and the fact that they were both in a sandwich made it even more amazing! Definitely going to do this sandwich again!

Tomorrow im going to try to go to the farmers market in the World Financial Center by Bobby's job , just to look around and see what they have. Dinner tomorrow! Im super excited for the weekend and so is my belly..