Author Notes
Sometimes putting a little bit of sweetness beside a piece of Gorgonzola can tilt an uneasy eater’s attitude in favor of this blistering blue cheese. This sandwich includes a drizzle of honey over the melting cheese to achieve that end. I prefer to make this grilled cheese with the more pungent Gorgonzola Piccante, which gives a sharper bite because it’s aged. But the milder Gorgonzola Dolce yields a gentler Panini should that be what your audience requires. The piccante is typically a bit drier than the dolce, so I allow it to sit a bit longer as a sandwich before cutting it, just to make sure the cheese has a change to fuse the ham and bread together adequately. I serve these sandwiches with fresh figs in the fall, Bosc pears in the winter or sweet cherries in June. —cheese1227
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Ingredients
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2 teaspoons
good quality olive oil (one with a nutty flavor is great)
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4 pieces
sesame semolina bread. Each slice should be about a half inch thick
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1/2 cup
crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, divided
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1 teaspoon
honey
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4 pieces
good quality Parma ham, sliced as thinly as your deli can provide.
Directions
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Heat two teaspoons of olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium high heat for about one minute. Lay the slices of bread in the pan.
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Immediately split the blue cheese between two slices of the grilling bread, spreading the cheese evenly on each piece of bread so it will melt uniformly.
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Drizzle half of the honey over each cheesy slice.
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Keep the bread on the heat until it is a golden brown color (about one minute more).
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Remove the pan from the heat and lay two slices of ham on each of the plain pieces of grilled bread. It’s important not to place Parma ham on the bread while they are directly on the heat because it becomes stringy if it gets too hot.
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Use a spatula to turn the cheesy bread slices on top of the ham slices and transfer the sandwiches to a cutting board. Cut each sandwich in half with a serrated knife. Serve immediately.
I am an excellent eater (I have been all my life). I’m a pretty good cook (Ask my kids!). And my passable writing improves with alcohol (whether it's the writer or the reader that needs to drink varies by sentence.). I just published my first cookbook, Green Plate Special, which focuses on delicious recipes that help every day cooks eat more sustainably.
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