Better Grilled Cheese

This past week, in the land of New Jersey, we had one of those crazy school situations where the kids had only half days for teacher conferences and then two days off for that party called the teacher’s convention. So Belle was here and around much more during the day, meaning more cozy weekday lunches. On one particularly brisk afternoon we were all in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches. I had been reading the latest issue/book from the ladies of Canal House and in the introduction Gabrielle Hamilton (chef/owner of the restaurant Prune, author, and sister to Canal House founder Melissa Hamilton) writes about making grilled cheese sandwiches on Christmas Eve for her friends. She paints a fun, ribald, urban scene, but there’s also a great food tip: using mayonnaise (the regular brilliant old Hellman’s kind) on the bread for frying up.

Usually I put butter on all sides of the bread and then either fry the sandwich in a skillet or on a baking sheet in the oven, if I’m going for more of a an open-faced croque monsieur thing with a slice of ham and shredded gruyere.

But this time I took some crusty bread, put a slather of mayo on the outside of every slice, also put a slather of dijon on the inside for the adults, and then fried them in a skillet like that. They mayo on the outside sort of caramelizes, forming a savory crust.

Delightful.

And I didn’t go fancy on the cheese. Yes, aged Vermont cheddar with sweet onions would have been nice, or some soft fontina with arugula. But I used organic white American slices I had stacked up in the fridge and they melted beautifully.

Sliced into wedges and served on a cutting board, it was just right for one of those days and one of those weeks.