Caprese Grilled Cheese

As I mentioned last week, April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Until last week, I had not eaten a grilled cheese sandwich for a decade, but after our experiments last weekend I'm hooked! I made another batch of my broccoli white bean soup from last week to last us through the weekend. This afternoon, I was heating it up and totally craving grilled cheese. I had just bought some yummy Vermont Maplebrook Mozzarella so I decided to use that. The cheese inspired me to make a caprese grilled cheese with some ripe plum tomatoes and fresh basil. It was soooo simple and soooo tasty.

There are many ways to make delicious grilled cheese. My Grandma Jackie is famous for her grilled cheese. As a kid she would just make us sandwich after sandwich. We couldn't get enough. I think it was the combination of a ton of butter and this special press/weight thing she had. It was made of cast iron and super heavy. It was so perfect for making thin, crispy grilled cheese. I don't have one of those but I do have a small cast iron skillet. So to press my sandwich I just put a piece of tinfoil over the top and pressed down with the smaller skillet. It worked perfectly!

Read more for the full recipe!

Note: Because sandwiches, especially grilled cheeses, are super subjective, I didn't include quantities in this recipe. Everyone has a different level of cheesiness, and a lot of the quantities depend on the size of the bread slices you're using. So here's what I used - feel free to add or subtract ingredients.

Ingredients:
Sourdough Bread - cut into 3/4" wide slices
Plum tomatoes, washed and sliced
Fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2" wide slices
Fresh basil, washed
salt and pepper
olive oil cooking spray
aluminum foil

Step by Step Instructions:
1. Heat a cast iron skillet on the stove top on medium heat for 5-7 minutes, it should smoke slightly when you spray it with olive oil
2. Assemble sandwich: layer cheese then tomato slices seasoned with salt and pepper, then basil and then another thin layer of cheese. Top with the other slice of bread
3. Spray skillet with cooking spray and place sandwich in the middle of the skillet, lower heat to med-low
4. Place a piece of aluminum foil on top of the sandwich
5. Use something heavy to press down on the foil - I used another cast iron skillet, but a large bowl can work as well
6. After 2-3 minutes, flip the sandwich and grill the other side, covering with foil and heavy object
7. Slice and serve!