Grilled Cheese with Style

Every time I buy onions, I end up buying way too many and either leave them in the fridge to turn black (I know, I know, that takes forever to happen. I am that bad). But I refused to just sit by while my onions' potential wasted away this time.

I happened to have some Gruyère in my fridge, left-over from a few weeks ago when I was feeling over-confident in my groceries' budget and splurged on an $8 piece of cheese, and the idea of caramelized onions and Gruyère was just too much to pass up. Now, for those of you who think that buying a small, $8 piece of cheese is crazy, let me assure you, a little bit of Gruyère goes a long way. Like most things of good quality, you use much less of it compared to how much you use of the cheap stuff, so it usually ends up being only minimally more expensive to get the incomparably better-tasting stuff. The key is to learn how to tell through context clues which recipes originally used the cheap stuff and which ones used the good stuff, so that you know when to scale up or down.

Caramelizing onions. Mmmm, can you smell that delicious-ness?

Grilled Cheese with Style

Note: I am about to explain this as if you are in kindergarten, so be forewarned.

2 slices of whole grain bread (I used Panera's, but the OMS bread would also be delicious)

3-4 thing slices of Gruyère cheese

1/3 of a medium onion, sliced into thin, long strips

1/2 teaspoon of butter for spreading onto the bread

Place onions and the tiniest but of oil or butter in a pan over medium heat. Caramelize onions (cook for about 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally).

Butter the outside faces of your sandwich bread.

Layer Gruyère cheese on the inside (un-buttered side) of one piece of bread, then top with caramelized onions. Place bread slice, cheese and onion side up, in a skillet over medium heat. Top with remaining piece of bread, butter side up. Cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how browned you like your grilled cheeses.

Flip, and cook for another 2-3 minutes on other side.

Congratulations, you have made yourself a simple, but very sophisticated and gratifying grilled cheese.

Mmmmm, just look at those onions and that melted cheese...