i am a food blog

I’ve been wanting to make a green grilled cheese forever. I mean, yes, I’ve put brussel sprouts and broccoli in my grilled cheeses, but never have I ever used spinach in a grilled cheese. This particular green grilled cheese recipe comes to us from Jessica’s book, Seriously Delish! If you’ve ever visited Jessica’s blog, How Sweet it Is, you know how entirely awesome she happens to be. She loves trashing things up in a way that is incredibly on point and every time she posts I wish I could reach into my monitor and feast.

Her book is just as fabulous as her blog – I dogeared (I didn’t literally fold over the pages, I just used post-it notes) almost every recipe, but the one that caught my eye was the green grilled cheese, because grilled cheese. It was everything I dreamed it would be: cheesy, savoury, and seriously delish. I loved the tender bite of the leeks, garlic, and spinach against the crispy bread.

Speaking of crispy bread, last weekend I finally watched Chef. There’s a scene in the movie where Jon Favreau makes a grilled cheese sandwich. When he cuts into it you can hear the crunch of the buttery crisp bread in an audible way that immediately brings to mind grilled cheeses. It absolutely made the movie for me. Grilled cheese is all about that crispy crunch giving way to soft and gooey insides. I could go on about grilled cheese for a long time, so I’m going to stop now…

Green Grilled Cheese Recipe slightly adapted from Seriously Delish
makes 1 sandwich

• oil
• 1/2 leek, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2-3 cups fresh spinach
• 1-2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 2 slices bread of choice
• 1-2 tablespoons pesto
• 3/4 cup shredded Fontina and white cheddar
• 1 avocado, sliced

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-low. Add a bit of oil and cook the leeks and garlic until soft, 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, 2 minutes or so. Remove the spinach mix and set aside.

Assemble the grilled cheese: butter the outsides of the bread and lay the slices on a cutting board, buttered sides facing down. On the un-buttered sides, spread the pesto evenly. On one slice, layer half of the shredded cheese, then the avocado slices and spinach mixture. Top with the remaining shredded cheese and the other slice of bread, butter side facing out.

Use the same non-stick skillet as before and heat over medium. Carefully move the sandwich to the pan and fry until golden brown and crispy, flipping once.

Notes: Jessica’s sandwich is perfect as is, but I couldn’t resist using butter instead of olive oil and adding in some thickly sliced avocados. I’m pretty sure she would approve.

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