It was love at first bite.
With the next bite, I knew life would never be the same.
I recently took a class at Murray’s Cheese (actually, I took two classes there now, and I swear, I will post about them, but I’m trying to go mostly in order here), and discovered this somewhat local cheese – Goot Essa Mountain Valley Sharp Cheddar. Our class explored beverage pairings with the cheeses, and this one was paired with hard cider. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of that pairing, but I hear cheese & apples go well together, and, I don’t know, this just struck my fancy.
I sliced some Trader Joe’s Garlic & Olive Oil ciabatta – this is not traditional ciabatta, it looks like ciabatta, but the texture is way off, this is much softer. It still tastes good, and I’ll keep buying it, but for your ciabatta needs, I recommend Zaro’s in Grand Central Market, their ciabatta is to die for delicious. (Oh hey, their store is near the Murray’s Cheese in Grand Central Market, what a happy coincidence…) Anyway, I melted some butter into the pan and put the bread directly in, this makes it easier instead of trying to spread butter on the bread itself (which is how I grew up doing it) plus this skips some butter on the inside of the bread.
Once the bread was a bit toasty, I peeled and sliced Fuji apple rounds and put that on the cheese, then flipped the whole affair once, then right onto a plate and straight into my belly.
Sigh.
Heaven in my hand.
If you’re really astute, you’ll notice in some pictures, the cheese is much thicker than in other pictures. I made this twice and took pictures both times, some of them came out better the other time. The cheese is good either way, but I decided I liked it thinner than the above picture in the pan shows, it melts better and more quickly. Holy cow, that’s some deliciousness. You have no excuse not to make this in some form or other – especially because one of these was made in the morning, before I ran off to work. It only took 10 minutes, maybe less, so it all went down while I packed my lunch. No excuse whatsoever to not indulge one morning in a little treat.
HAPPY EATING!!!
Rochelle says
That is a mighty fine lookin’ sammich, there, lady.
Also, I know when you ate this, because I’m creepy. 0:)
Jenn says
ooohhh, that looks awesome. hmmm, i have two pieces of my homemade bread left that i need to do something with tonight. i think i have some apples too….hmmm.
awesome, tasty post!
Kate says
Oh no fair! That looks too darn good, and I’m on a no dairy diet. You temptress!! 🙂
eonyc says
I love love LOOOOOVE the wine/cheese classes at Murray’s. I haven’t been to any in the past six months–I need to fix that!
And the sandwich looks yum.
Lizz says
dammit – I have YET to fulfill my grilled cheese craving from that night!
Anonymous says
Okay…this redeems the last post by miles. [I still can’t get the spinach out of my mind!]
So delicious my girls are wanting, but dinner is already made.
So looks like breakfast too! With a warm cup of cider. Yummy.
Hugs, Skippymom
amy says
dude i ate all my goot essa first. what an idiot. still have the piave and the clothbound but really should have gotten like a pound of the goot essa…. gah i want to make this sandwich tooooo
soopling says
oh man. i just made a similar sandwich, but using brie and honeycrisp apples. actually, these are frequently how my meals end up (good bread, some kind of cheese, something sweet to balance it out). your ‘wich is totally up my alley.
i hope you ended up liking the murray’s classes! it sounded like you did…
gansie says
okay, two things.
1) you ate this for breafast – crazytown!
2) do you have any other apple pairing suggestions, or is fugi def the way to go?
M says
Yum! I have loved those sandwiches ever since my mom made them as I was growing up.
eilis alana says
ok – OMG — guess I have to come down from Yonkers to check out Murray’s and get some of that bread you recommend!!!
Bloggette says
I was so surprised to find this post. This is exactly the way I make my grilled cheese sandwiches. It makes me happy that there is another creative eater in NYC.
Peggy Chen says
Ooh! I’ve never had fruit in my grilled cheese before. I like fruit with crackers and cheese. I must try next time…