Dreamy Ham and Pear Grilled Cheese Sandwich - Mar 26th, 2015
When our fellow foodie friends issued us a challenge, we gladly accepted. Who doesn’t love a fun food challenge? Especially when that challenge involves cheese, and more precisely – grilled cheese.
Of course we love a great grilled cheese. Whether it’s gourmet or traditional, it doesn’t much matter. It’s just has to taste great and have warm melty cheese and a crisp outer crunch. Those are our criteria for great grilled cheese.
For this challenge, we wanted to do something a bit different, and with a bit of Canadian flair. For a passing moment we thought about a grilled cheese and poutine infusion, but we opted for something that may be even more Canadian than poutine: maple syrup. So we started with some maple and honey ham and decided to pair that with a thinly sliced Bartlett pear. We wanted something really special for the cheese, so we settled on cranberry and cinnamon goat cheese. We also added alfalfa sprouts and then grilled the whole thing on a counter-top grill press.
This was a seriously good grilled cheese. We were actually surprised by just how good these flavour combinations were together. The pears and ham both had a subtle sweetness which was really nice with the creamy texture of the goat cheese. Oh, and the goat cheese… who knew that cinnamon would taste so damn good on a grilled cheese sandwich (you all know how much I like cinnamon, right?). Trust us, this is one dreamy (and creamy!) grilled cheese sandwich.
Here’s what you’ll need to make my wife’s Dreamy Ham and Pear Grilled Cheese Sandwich:
- 2 slices of thick cut bread (we used French bread)
- 1 Bartlett pear, thinly sliced
- 5-6 slices of thinly sliced maple-honey ham
- 50 g cranberry cinnamon goat cheese
- Handful of alfalfa sprouts
- Small amount of butter
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
- Lightly butter both slices of bread.
- On one slice of bread (un-buttered side), layer ham, pears, and goat cheese.
- Top with sprouts, and finally the second slice of bread (butter side out).
- Grill over medium heat for approximately 5-6 minutes or until cheese begins to melt and bread begins to turn a golden brown colour.
- If using a grill press, gently press down while cooking to achieve grill marks on both sides. If using a standard frying pan or flat top grill, simply flip halfway through cooking process.
- Remove from heat and serve immediately.
Cheers,
Gregg & Mae
This is one amazing sandwich!! I love the pear/ham/goat cheese combo. All of my favorites.
I love this combination of flavours! This is going to be my next grilled cheese Sandwich!