Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions and Homemade Bread

Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onion and Homemade Bread

Today the weather was mild and it made me think about spring. I love spring and I am so ready to start my garden and enjoy the warmer weather. One of the other things i love about spring are the vegetables. In my house spring vegetables means one thing, ramps. Haven grown-up in Seattle I had never heard of a ramp before moving to West Virginia. Then I happened to marry someone from the edge of the Monongahela National Forest and the heart of ramp country. The first year we were married his mom brought us a large bag of dirty roots, I thought she was crazy. Then my husband explained that they had to be cleaned first and then could be used the same way as a onion or leek. I feel in love with them. Now every March I start asking my mother-in-law if the ramps have started to appear. With the warmer weather and start of March I am busy thinking about all the dishes that I will make this spring. Onions in general are a big spring item in my household and this week I tried a new recipe for Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions from Redbook Magazine.

Gluten Free Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 33 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 sandwiches. I made two versions of this sandwich, one for my husband and two boys and one for me. For my version I used gluten free bread, which I made from scratch and for the version for my family I made homemade crusty bread using the Dutch oven. For the cheese I followed the suggestion and used Gruyere and Sharp Cheddar. Instead of grilling the sandwiches on the stove I used my indoor electric griddle. I love using my griddle, it reduces the chance of burning and the crust always comes out even.

I served the sandwiches with tomato soup and the combination was delicious. The recipe for the tomato soup will be up on my blog tomorrow night. My boys ate their servings without the onions. They aren't fans of onions, but love grilled cheese sandwiches so they loved them none the less. My husband absolutely loved the sandwiches with the homemade bread and ate three for dinner. This recipe was definitely a hit and can be modified to use whatever type of cheese you prefer.

For the recipe go to Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions.

Martha Stewart Living Three-Cheese Gougeres

If you've followed this blog for any amount of time you know that I love cheese. When my husband and I traveled when we were younger I was the one interested in the various local cheeses and food, not the shopping and tourist attractions. My two kids have followed in my foot steps and are often caught in front of the fridge eating large amounts of goat cheese. Since I eat cheese so frequently I am always experimenting with new recipes and cooking methods. In the past year I have tried more than a few gougeres recipes, but none have turned out as well as I hoped. Recently, Martha Stewart Living magazine had a recipe for Three-Cheese Gougeres, which looked promising and full of one of my favorite foods, cheese.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes approximately 55 minutes of prep and cooking time and makes 26 puffs. I actually had to buy new white wine since the bottle in my fridge had been in there so long that it had brown sediment when I poured it. I was able to find all the ingredients easily at my local grocery store and I didn't have to make any ingredient modifications. I weighed out my cheese on my food scale to insure proper amounts in the recipe. If you don't already utilize a food scale I highly recommend buying one, having exact amounts of an ingredient can really make or break a recipe. Watch the gougeres the last 10 minutes of cooking time. I actually rotated my pans and switched them halfway through the cooking time to prevent burning and ensure even browning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was impressed by how well these gougeres turned out. In many of the previous recipes that I have tried the puffs never actually puffed up and stayed flat. These gougeres turned out beautifully. I like that they use three different cheeses and would be perfect for a party or brunch. I served my gougeres as a side with red meat and the combination was perfect. They would also work well with a variety of other meats or soups. Overall, a better recipe for gougeres than the previous ones that I have tried and great for a party.

For the recipe go to Three-Cheese Gougeres.