Caprese Grilled Cheese

   So, I have a thing for grilled sandwiches. Incase you didn't notice....

   Our wonderful neighbour gave me a lot of produce this summer, and I tried to put it all to good use. 

   One thing he gave me a lot of was tomatoes, and basil (well, and cucumbers, but they are not in this sandwich!)

    Basil, tomato and mozzarella cheese are a flavour favourite of mine, known as a caprese salad (typically this salad is just seasoned with olive oil and salt). To me, making this 'salad' into a grilled cheese only seemed natural, basically because it has cheese already! Oh boy... 

Caprese Grilled Cheese (for 2)

4 slices of bread (a really good, firm bread, like sourdough, works well)
Butter for the bread
Tomato Slices as thick of thin as you like 'em.
Bocconcini cheese medallions (or regular mozzarella works too)
A hand-full of fresh basil
Garlic (optional-but so good, you'll want to)

Heat a large frying pan to medium heat.

Butter one side each of the slices of bread.

Chop up your basil however you do it. If you've never used fresh basil, fear not. It is forgiving. Just don't use the stems, fyi.  

Now assemble your sandwich!

My BIG grilled cheese tip (when adding other yummies besides cheese), is to layer your cheese! If you don't layer, you won't have enough "cheese glue" as I call it, and your masterpiece will slide apart! 

So, I do something like 
Bread
Cheese
Tomato
Cheese
Basil
Cheese 
Bread

Lots -o- glue! 

So, assemble (with buttered sides of bread facing out).
Put into hot pan, and toast. If the bread is toasting too fast and the cheese isn't melting yet, turn the heat down, and put a lid on the pan to give that cheese some good quality melting time!

Once sufficiently melted and toasty (should take 10-15 minutes, less if you used regular mozzarella and not the bocconcini), remove from pan.

The BEST part (though I said it was optional), it that when that bad boy comes out of the pan, if you have used a "firm" bread, take a fresh peeled clove of garlic, and rub it onto the toasty outside on the sandwich. Trust me....do it. 

If you didn't use a firm bread, you will just smoosh your bread, so, don't rub the garlic on.  Don't worry, it still tastes yummy without it.

Amy-Lyn