The Unfamiliar Kitchen

I am so late to the party with another post/recipe. You’ll have to forgive me as I was in Thanksgiving cooking mode for a solid 3 days and then I had a Thanksgiving hangover for 3 days after. Not a boozy hangover…a turkeystuffingcranberrysauce hangover. Its finally time to toss the last of the leftovers away as I simply can not find a way to salvage the 5 green beans left in my fridge. This year was the first time I hosted a thanksgiving and I’m happy to report I think it went off without a hitch. Except the “charred” brussel sprouts – those were not supposed to happen. A little slack please…I had a lot on my plate people! (pun totally intended)

Anyways, since we are now long past the point of sharing potential thanksgiving recipes and/or leftover recipes, I figured I’d give you something you could make anytime. I made these sandwiches as an appetizer and ended up cutting them up in quarters to share. But feel free to make it for a quick meal or when nothing but gooey melted cheese on bread will chase your day’s problems away. Don’t pretend you don’t know those kind of days. I riffed this recipe off of those grilled cheese food trucks you see around town these days. While they do in fact make delicious sandwiches, I am not about to solve the mysteries of Twitter and chase trucks around Manhattan only to pay $10 for something I could easily make myself. And for $10, I made an entire batch of these guys to share.

There is not a bad thing going on with this grilled cheese. Melty fontina…mmmm. Caramelized onions….yup. Apple smoked bacon…duh. And a fig barbecue sauce….bonus! I picked these bad boys up on my final Trader Joe’s visit before thanksgiving because yes, I made at least 4 separate trips. Because I had to buy things on different days depending on perishability. Because I am neurotic like that. Soooo, the last thing I went to pick up was the bacon on Wednesday at 4pm {risky} and when I got there, every smoked/cured pork product was cleared from the shelves. They were even out of turkey bacon which was like, a total last resort. So as I was standing in disbelief, reexamining my appetizer menu, a Trader Joe’s employee ran up with a box to start restocking the shelves. I noticed it was some kind of bacon and mentally did a happy dance. I asked him if it was the thick cut, apple smoked kind and he nodded. I told this stranger that I’d never been so happy to see bacon in my entire life and that he undoubtedly saved my day. Who am I?

Puh-lease make them….they’ll save your day too. Promise.

Barbecue Bacon Grilled Cheese

serves 2

4 slices of hearty bread, I used Tuscan Pane

2 slices or 2 oz. shredded fontina cheese

4 slices thick cut bacon

1 yellow or sweet onion, thinly sliced

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 T bbq sauce

1 T fig preserves

1. Cook onions in a couple drizzles of olive oil on medium-low heat until very soft and caramelized, about 15-20 minutes.

2. Raise the temp and add in balsamic vinegar. Cook vinegar down for 1-2 minutes until thickened.

3. While onions are cooking, lay bacon on rack over a baking sheet (I used my broiling rack for this). Bake at 450 degrees for 5-10 minutes, turning occasionally, until desired crispy-ness.

4. Mix bbq sauce and fig preserves in a separate bowl and spread on one slice of bread per sandwich. Layer onions, bacon and cheese on other side.

5. Cook for 5 minutes in a panini press, grill pan, or plain skillet until toasted on the outside and cheese is fully melted.