If you think a grilled cheese is just a grilled cheese, you may need to expand your horizons. Just think of all the varieties of cheese, different kinds of bread, and infinite numbers of things you can add in or put on top or serve alongside. This is at least my third grilled cheese sandwich on Saturdays with Frank*, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more to come.
For this Southwestern grilled cheese sandwich, I started with a blend of pepper Jack and sharp Cheddar cheeses, shredded for maximum meltability. To make it healthier – and colorful – I added vibrant green, red and orange vegetables. But instead of layering them on the sandwich, I shredded the vegetables and mixed everything together. The shreds of zucchini and carrot are so delicate, they soften and melt right along with the cheese. (For best results, shred the carrots yourself using a box grater; don’t use the carrots sold pre-“shredded” at the grocery store. These are actually not shredded, they’re cut in a fine julienne cut, which makes them too firm to soften properly in this sandwich.)
For the bread, if I were being authentic I would have used tortillas. But I didn’t really want to make a quesadilla, I wanted a sandwich, and I wanted the bread to have some chewiness and a good crust. I griddled these sandwiches in a nonstick pan, with a second skillet on top weighted down with cans to make a makeshift panini press. (If you have a panini press, great.) So for the bread I chose a panini-appropriate ciabatta – a baguette would also work, either a long loaf cut into portions, or single-serving-sized rolls.
The combination of the Southwestern flavors in the filling and the European bread and cooking method may be untraditional, but it works. These sandwiches are golden and crusty on the outside, oozy and cheesy on the inside, and beautiful with the bright multicolored veggies peeking out along the edges.
Making these ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- The cheese filling for these Southwestern grilled cheese sandwiches can be made a couple of hours ahead, and stored in the fridge until needed. The sandwiches can be grilled up to half an hour ahead and kept warm in a 300 degree oven, but don’t plan to make them too much farther ahead than that, or they’ll lose the great contrast in textures between the gooey insides and crusty bread.
- Since you can make just as many sandwiches as you need, there should be no reason to end up with leftovers of the sandwiches. If you have leftovers of the cheese mixture, use it within one day, either to make more sandwiches, or try it as an omelet filling.
*For some other grilled cheese sandwich ideas, check out:
- Mozzarella en Carozza
- Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons
- And a little further out from the traditional but still technically a grilled sandwich with cheese, Spinach and Fontina Stuffed French Toast
Southwestern Grilled Veggie and Cheese Sandwich
Use a non-stick skillet for grilling these sandwiches, with a second large skillet on top weighted with four cans of soup or beans for a makeshift press. Or, if you have one, use a panini press instead.
Ingredients
- 4 crusty, sandwich-sized rolls (such as mini French baguettes or ciabatta), or one large, flat, oblong crusty loaf cut into 4 sandwich-sized portions
- 6 ounces shredded pepper Jack or sharp Cheddar cheese, or a blend of the two
- ½ a medium zucchini, shredded (about 2/3 cup loosely packed)
- 1 carrot, peeled and shredded (about 1/3 cup loosely packed)
- 1/3 cup tomato salsa, mild or hot
- 3 scallions, white and light green parts minced, dark green ends reserved
- Hot sauce, such as Tabasco, optional to taste
- Neutral oil, such as expeller-pressed canola
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- Step 2 Slice the rolls in half through their thickness to make a top and a bottom. Pull out some of the bread from the inside of the top half of the rolls, to make the tops thinner and create a pocket inside the roll for the filling.
- Step 3 Combine the cheese, zucchini, carrots, salsa, and the white and light green parts of the scallions in a medium bowl. If you’ve used Cheddar cheese instead of some or all of the pepper Jack, use a hotter salsa, or add a few dashes of Tabasco if desired. Pile the filling onto the bottom halves of the rolls, dividing it evenly. Add the tops and press down to compact the sandwiches, being careful not to let the filling squeeze out.
- Step 4 Add a small amount of oil to the skillet just to coat the skillet with a thin layer. Invert the sandwiches and lay them in the skillet with the top side down. If the skillet isn’t big enough to hold all the sandwiches, cook them in two batches. Cover the sandwiches with a second skillet and weight it down with cans to press the sandwiches. Cook until the side of the sandwich that’s against the bottom skillet is crusty and golden brown. Remove the top skillet, flip the sandwiches over, and cook the other side, this time leaving the sandwiches uncovered (unpressed). When the bottoms are crusty and brown and the cheese is melted around the edges, remove the sandwiches to a cutting board. If necessary, cook the second batch.
- Step 5 Carefully cut each sandwich on the diagonal. The bread will be very crusty, and the filling will be very soft, so if you were to try to force a knife through the sandwich from the top, it would squash the sandwich and force the filling out the sides. Instead, try using a pair of kitchen shears to cut through just the top layer of bread first. Then, once there’s a path cut through the bread, you can insert a knife into that cut and gently press down to cut through the rest of the sandwich.
- Step 6 Arrange the sandwich halves on a baking sheet lined with foil, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes until the sandwiches are heated through and the cheese is melted all the way through. To serve, arrange two sandwich halves on each of four plates. Cut the reserved scallion greens on the diagonal and sprinkle them over the top for a garnish.
