Loaded Potato Grilled Cheese

I have a lot of ambitions in life. Some are noble, some are completely selfish and some fall smack dab in the middle. One of the biggest ones, I’m going to put in the middle category. TO MAKE THE BEST GRILLED CHEESES ON THE EAST COAST. I am going to push it toward noble just because I love feeding people and making them happy. That drives the motivation for everything I cook.

In this blog you’ll see a lot of just that. Jenna’s Test Kitchen for Grilled Cheese Excellence. Here is something that came out of JTKFGCE today.

Loaded Potato Grilled Cheese
2 slices Texas toast bread
2 ½ slices of thickly sliced sharp cheddar cheese
3 slices thick-cut applewood smoked-bacon, cooked and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 ½ tbsp chives, chopped
½ cup garlic mashed potatoes, prepared
3 tbsp butter
salt & freshly ground pepper

Straight up, just try to cover every little spot on your bread with cheddar. Next, spread your potatoes on one slice. Salt and pepper if you’d like. Add the bacon and chives, then close up that bad boy. Butter both sides of the bread liberally.

Preheat your skillet. I prefer to use cast iron. Once you put your sandwich in, press it. (If you don’t have a press, you can use something like: another pan, a big can of somethin’ covered in foil…anything heavy and sanitary… that’s the key.) Don’t press it so hard that your taters squirt out the sides, but enough that the bread begins to compress. Use medium-low heat and keep an eye on it. Flip it. Check it. You know what a good grilled cheese looks like.

Once it’s done, put it on a plate and let it set for a couple of minutes before cutting and scarfing.