Grilled cheese with pickled sweet peppers and red onions on marble rye - Diversivore.com

Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese

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Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese on marble rye with cornichons
Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese on marble rye with cornichons

Pickled Pepper
Grilled Cheese

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I wasn't sure I wanted to post this at all - not because it didn't taste good or look good, but because I just didn't feel like it was enough cooking to count. But that got me thinking about food and food blogging, and I decided that this kind of food is precisely the kind of thing I should be posting... at least once in a while. Why? Because it's worth remembering that cooking good quality food can sometimes be so simple that it barely feels like cooking at all.

Food blogging seems all-too-often stuck in between two strange parallels. On the one hand, you've got the ultra-dedicated-gourmet-foodie bloggers who like to make sous-vide skirt steak and homemade chicharones with a horseradish gastrique and beet microgreens. These blogs are often incredible, but they can be awfully intimidating (if not outright unreasonable for those with very busy lives). On the other hand you've got the ultra-encouraging blogs dedicated to keeping things really simple. These blogs can be wonderful, but some of them have a nasty habit of skirting the issue of cooking altogether by combining a bunch of heavily processed ingredients and calling it a recipe. There are plenty of examples of course, but I'm specifically thinking of smores, which are my nuisance-du-jour; I don't need another Pinterest pin espousing the joys of combining and melting junk food.

I'm not saying any of this to poke fun at anyone - I drool over the high-tech kitchen wizardry, and I love simple food I can slap together at a whim. But there's a middle ground that's getting left out of the equation too often. Cooking can be ultra-simple, but still heavily dependent on scratch methods and culinary techniques. This grilled cheese is nothing more than a sandwich built around fairly simple ingredients. There's nothing fancy about it, but it is carefully considered. The cheese is real and not processed, and the crust on the bread is made a little richer and more golden with mayonnaise, but none of it is ground-breaking. And that's ok. Great cooking can be nothing more than a few simple and wonderful ingredients placed together with care. I'm not trying to pretend that this sandwich is going to get me a Michelin star (they give those out for blogs, right?) but it's delicious and it's real food.

Now I am admittedly prone to getting a little bit hardcore with my food. If I can do it myself, I probably want to try, and I have shelves full of home-preserved foods to prove it. But the nice thing about cooking like this is that you can go as easy or as hardcore as you want. Thanks to great educational resources and the increased availability of first-class food supplies, you could start your sandwich journey with homemade bread, homemade cheese, and homemade pickles. Heck, you could grow the veggies yourself. You could also make your own mayonnaise, but I personally love the tangy and unique flavour of Japanese kewpie mayo. In fact, it's one of the few processed goodies that I really enjoy cooking with.

I don't have a single take-home message here, other than my usual less-than-revelatory 'cooking is good,' but I will say one last thing on the subject: whatever you do, whatever you make, try to consider and honour your ingredients. Garbage in, garbage out as they say. That way, even if your final dish is no more than the sum of its parts, it will still be good. With a little artistry and care, it will probably be great.

Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese on marble rye with cornichons

Recipe Notes

It's a grilled cheese. I'm the first person to admit that this barely qualifies as a recipe. But not all cooking has to be about mastering a souffle or painstakingly cooking your roux - this is good, rich, hearty EASY cooking, and it's exactly the kind of thing that we should all do more of when we're tempted by a cheapo fast-food burger (or worse - a microwaveable lunch).

I make my own pickled peppers and they're incredible (if I do say so myself), but if you're not into the home-preserving game, you can source out good pickled sweet peppers at farmers markets and better grocery stores. They're really addictive, so don't be afraid to buy a big jar. A pepper spread would work quite nicely too.

You could easily swap out the cheese, though I recommend keeping it on the stronger end of the flavour spectrum. Mild cheddar (ugh) is going to make for a middling sandwich, but a nice rich havarti would work well. You can change up the bread too; marbled rye is tasty and adds great visual punch, but any good, dense loaf will do.

As I mention in my other grilled cheese recipe, mayonnaise on the outside of the bread is like some kind of grilled cheese magic bullet. It browns beautifully and it adds a little extra dimension to the sandwich. That being said, butter or margarine will work just fine.

You'll notice that I haven't given any amounts for each ingredient, as amounts are kind of meaningless without knowing how big your bread slices are. Cover the face of the sandwich with cheese, but try not to make it too thick or the resulting sandwich will be overly greasy. As for the rest - use as much as you think you'd like to eat.

Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese on marble rye with cornichons

Nutritional information is given for a single sandwich based on the measurements given in the recipe. Actual numbers may vary depending on bread choice, amount of cheese used, etc.

Nutrition Facts
Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese
Amount Per Serving
Calories 422 Calories from Fat 261
% Daily Value*
Fat 29g45%
Saturated Fat 8g50%
Trans Fat 0.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 39mg13%
Sodium 775mg34%
Potassium 162mg5%
Carbohydrates 29g10%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 13g26%
Vitamin A 750IU15%
Vitamin C 42.1mg51%
Calcium 270mg27%
Iron 1.4mg8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Summary

GOOD NEWS:
Amping up the sandwich with veggies makes this healthier all around than a simple grilled cheese. Do note that the nutritional info is all estimated, and will vary depending on how big you make it and how much cheese you use.

BAD NEWS:
It's a cheese sandwich, so it's high in fat (and saturated fat at that). Try not to go overboard on the cheese, or you risk making this way too rich and greasy.

Ingredient Pages

No ingredient pages have been written yet for any of the ingredients in this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

Pantry Pages

No pantry pages have been written yet for any of the ingredients in this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

  • Vegetarian
  • 15 minute meal
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5 from 2 votes

Pickled Pepper Grilled Cheese

Simple, delicious grilled cheese gets a flavour kick (not to mention a visual one) from marbled rye, pickled sweet peppers, and red onions.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Main Course, Sandwich
Cuisine: American, Miscellaneous, North American
Keyword: cheese toastie with peppers, grilled cheese variation, grilled cheese with peppers, red onion, sweet pepper grilled cheese
Servings: 1 sandwich
Calories: 422kcal

Ingredients

  • old cheddar cheese
  • roasted pickled sweet peppers
  • red onion
  • marbled rye
  • Japanese mayo

Instructions

  • Slather the outsides of the bread with mayo. Yes, mayo. Butter works fine if you don't have mayo, but trust me it works GREAT.
  • Lay cheese, peppers, and red onions inside the sandwich.
  • Melt the butter in a medium frying pan (preferably a cast iron) over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted and sizzling, add the sandwich and fry until golden brown and gooey, then flip and brown the other side. Remove from heat, allow to cool for a minute or two and serve.

Notes

Feel free to use regular mayo or butter/margarine in place of the Japanese mayo. Likewise, you can change up the bread or even the cheese - though I'd recommend using a strong, flavourful variety to stand up to the peppers and onions.

Nutrition

Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 775mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 750IU | Vitamin C: 42.1mg | Calcium: 270mg | Iron: 1.4mg

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Comments

    1. Author

      Thanks Jeff! Sometimes it’s so easy to get outside of the box… but we just don’t think to do it! I’ve got to say, this was a memorable meal.

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