Jazz Up Your Ordinary Grilled Cheese Sandwich... With Garlic!

A few weeks ago I was browsing the internet for an innovative grilled cheese sandwich recipe. I never really found that ONE unique grilled cheese recipe, but I did find some bits and pieces that I hodge-podged together for a grilled cheese sandwich that was sooooooooooooo good (yes, THAT good), I couldn't wait to make another the next day. Give this recipe a try, and tell me if you don't agree, it's THAT good.

Oh, and .... you really must like garlic. :-) Hey, garlic's GOOD for you!

Garlic Grilled Cheese Sandwich
First, mince a few cloves of garlic and mix with 2-3 tablespoons of softened butter. How many cloves you use depends on how much you like garlic. I lovvvvve garlic, so I think I used 3 cloves to 2 tablespoons of butter.

Next, spread your garlicky butter over two slices of sourdough bread. You can use any kind of bread you like, but I think the sourdough imparts a special taste all its own.

Sprinkle a small amount of parmesan cheese over the garlic butter, on each slice of bread.

You can use whatever kind of sliced cheese you want in the sandwich, but here's what I used:

a half-slice each of Colby-Jack, Mozzarella, Sharp Cheddar and Baby Swiss.

There's multitudes of other cheeses you could use, e.g. provolone, pepper jack. I plan on sampling different cheese combos in the future.

Grill over medium heat using a cast iron pan, approx. 5-10 minutes first side, and only 5 minutes the second side, as your pan will have heated up thoroughly by the time you turn the sandwich.

On a side note, I love my cast iron cookware and don't know how I'd cook without them. They disperse heat evenly, and once they are heated through, your food cooks in the most lovely manner.

Just a precaution: sometimes the parmesan cheese crumbs will pop as they heat up. Nothing too serious, but just in case it startles you...

Oh, remember what I said earlier about the need to love garlic? Your house is going to smell like garlic, which I consider such a good smell, but some of you may think not so good.

If you make up the garlic butter ahead of time, this sandwich makes a quick great lunch on the weekends. Now that the weather is warming up, and we're all busy with outside work around the house, this sandwich will satisfy that worker bee hunger and keep you going the rest of the day!

If you try it, let me know what you think, good or bad. :-)

Enjoy!

P.S. This sandwich may resemble something served by Mimi's Cafe (CA restaurant). I personally have never been to Mimi's, but I did see online where they may serve something similar. If you try my recipe, and you've eaten at Mimi's and had THEIR grilled cheese, let me know if this tastes similar (or not!) Either way, I absolutely loved this!