Gruyère Grilled Cheese With Mushrooms And Honey Chive Butter is excerpted from Anna Thomas Bates' Tallgrass Kitchen column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 14, 2015. Reproduced by permission of Anna Thomas Bates. All rights reserved.
Gruyère Grilled Cheese With Mushrooms And Honey Chive Butter
This grilled cheese is perfect for April. The sweet chive shallot butter adds sweet, green notes of spring and complements the rich cheese and meaty mushrooms within. I used Uplands Cheese famous Pleasant Ridge Reserve, but any Gruyère-style cheese will work.
Makes 1 sandwich
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon minced shallots
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh chives
- Olive oil for the pan
- 5 large mushrooms, halved and thinly sliced
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of dried thyme
- Drizzle of red wine or sherry vinegar
- 2 slices bread (preferably a sturdy country loaf or sourdough)
- 3 ounces grated Gruyère cheese
- In a bowl, mix butter, honey, shallots and chives. (You will have extra butter — lucky you!)
- Add olive oil to a small skillet and warm over medium heat. Add mushrooms, salt and thyme. Cook 5 to 6 minutes until mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and drizzle with vinegar.
- Butter outsides of bread generously with honey chive butter. Warm a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Place one slice of bread buttered side down. Place half of the grated cheese on bread and layer with mushroom mixture. Top with remaining cheese and second slice of bread (buttered side out). When bottom layer is golden-brown, gently flip and cook remaining side. Serve warm, cut in half on the diagonal (always the diagonal — it makes sandwiches taste better).
