Mutant Tomatoes, Melty Cheese & Mean Ol’ Peppers

A few weeks back I decided to finally do something with the half a box of cherry tomatoes I’d had sitting in my fridge for about a month. I shit you not, I got those tomatoes back in January when Dopp and I were doing a tasting for the owners of our old restaurant…helping them style out the menu for their new place even tough they had no plans to take us over there. Anyway, those tomatoes sat in my fridge for weeks. I just never seemed to have a chance to do anything with them. Finally, I decided to shit or get off the pot and pulled them out of the fridge.
I had grilled cheese on the brain. Actually, I had, had grilled cheese on the brain ever since I went to visit my aunt (keep her in your prayers, if you wouldn’t mind) and she had given me some aged Gruyere, some smoked Gouda and a little hunk of goat cheese that didn’t make it back to my house. The cheese, like the tomatoes, sat neglected in my refrigerator…but not for long. One day, everything fell into place like the long rectangular piece in a game of Tetris. I took the tomatoes and poked some holes in them and got them on a sheet tray. I took a jalapeno (also from that tasting, and yet someone perfectly okay), sliced it thin and then crisped it in a little bacon fat. I set those aside, checked on my tomatoes and got the bread, the cheese and some ham out of my fridge. Now, I should mention that usually I like a grilled cheese sandwich on white bread, but since I’ve branched out into eating less traditional grilled cheese sandwiches, i.e. multiple cheeses, meats and or vegetables; I’ve found I like a heartier bread with a little more taste like a whole wheat or a Ciabatta. Now maybe technically, it’s not really a grilled cheese anymore, but then again, maybe technically I don’t really care what you think.
With my tomatoes sizzling and popping in the oven, I buttered the outside of two pieces of bread and started slicing my Gruyere and smoked gouda. I layered alternating pieces of cheese (Gruyere, then smoked gouda, &c.) across the bread, then put some of my thinly sliced ham across that. I pulled my tomatoes, fired to perfection, out of the oven and cut them in half. The tomatoes and the jalapenos went on next, followed by another slice of ham, more jalapeno & tomato, finally more cheese; and then obviously covered the entire thing with a second piece of bread.
Now remember that bacon fat that jalapenos crispified themselves in? Well, I kept it in the pan, because why the hell not? Spicy bacon grease to help flavor some grilled cheese? Why the hell not! So I added a little butter to my pan and got to work. I started the sandwich out on a high flame, got some nice colour on the outside, gave it a press, lowered my heat, flipped over my sandwich and domed it. As I understand it, or what I learned watching the irrepressible Bobby Flay on his show “Throwdown!” is that “doming” helps melt the cheese in your sandwich.
Essentially what you do is cover the entire sandwich with a bowl…to create a “dome,” and use the trapped heat inside to speed the cheese-melting process. Interestingly enough, after years of making grilled cheese sandwiches I’d never seen anyone dome a grilled cheese until I saw that episode of “Throwdown!” A buddy of mine from New Jersey knew all about it when I cooked at his place and made one for his girlfriend last Summer. The people Bobby beat in that episode had their store in New Jersey…maybe it’s a Jersey thing. I’d love it if someone could shed some light on this for me.
Anyway, I pulled the bowl off and got my grilled cheese on a plate. When it was all said and done, I can say that I had one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I’ve ever had. Now before you jump down my throat about tooting my own horn, let me just say I think it was more a combination of the two different cheeses, the jalapenos, roasted tomato and the ham; than anything I did. It’s also a little strange, because like I said, those tomatoes had been living in my for somewhere in the neighborhood of over a month before I did anything with them and they were no worse for wear. So, ya’know, maybe those hothouse tomatoes, that are full of hormones and less natural than Jenna Jameson are good for something after all. Nonetheless, I’m thinking about making one right now.
Next up, I take on a certain hairless gentleman and his South American grown confection...