Comfort Food: Grilled Cheese

The thing about comfort food is that it is often the most ordinary, even childish food that helps life to roll along more sweetly. Like grilled cheese sandwiches. But the even more glorious thing about comfort food is that it can and should be varied to fit your mood. For example. a grilled cheese sandwich can be made to recall perhaps the only decent food the WHS cafeteria ever served. You simply take a piece of white squishy bread and a slice of cheap cheddar and put it in the oven until the bread is cruchy and the cheese gets those little beads of oil congealing on the top. Not gourmet, but certainly not bad. That is, of course, if you have and pleasant memories of the WHS commons and want them recalled to your memory.

On the other hand, if you want a truly comforting experience, I suggest you consider a more gourmet approach. Just the other day I went to lunch with some friends and experienced the greatest grilled cheese I have eaten this side of the Atlantic. (The other side of the Atlantic is fodder for a different paragraph). I call this a "Grilled ABC" in which A is Avacado, B is Bacon, and C is Cheddar. And instead of squshy white bread, you have to use some really good bread. A sourdough would bring out the flavor of the avacado, or you could use some thick slices of Mom's homemade bread. (And by thick, I mean, Nancy cutting the bread style thick, not wimpy 1/2 inch slices, but at least double that.) You have to butter the bread on the outside, with whatever butter or margarine has the flavor you prefer. I actually prefer Blue Bonnet in this case. And by all means, throw two slices of cheese in there, one on either side of the avacado and bacon, so that the meltiness gets full coverage. and when you grill it, turn the heat on the burner only 3/4 of the way up, so that it takes a few minutes longer, allowing the stuff in the middle to get melty before the bread toasts up. Flip it only when the bread gets that lacy brown toasty pattern on it. Don't anticipate going back to a side to finish it off, you get one shot at the lacy brown texture.

Now, you can always throw other ingredients into the mix, if you don't have any bacon on hand, a slice of ham works quite nicely as well. And you can always pay homage to the Grandpa Pratt way of having a sandwich and throw fresh tomato in there, at which point you are not only honoring your heritage, but you are approaching the "other side of the Atlantic" way of doing it. Of course, then you need to baste your bread with a little egg and butter and put some emmental or swiss with the ham and tomato. Add some dijon mustard (this is pretty much the only way I will eat mustard!) and some italian herbs or a spice blend called "herbes de provence" and you have magically created a glorious thing called the "Croque Monsieur". Dad and Mom experienced the Croque Monsieur in France, and Dad has willingly admitted that it was in fact the best grilled cheese he had ever tasted in his life, with the qualifier that it was also the most expensive. Well, that is easily fixed by moking one of two choices: Make them at home, or take me with you next time you go to France. I would find both to be quite comforting!