Grilled Cheese with Sliced Tomato and Chipotle Mayo

With tomatoes ripening on the vines in my garden each day, I keep looking for recipes that use tomato (hopefully in abundance).

When I lived on the East Side of Milwaukee, Wis., I was within walking distance of this awesome coffee shop that served soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch. It was there that I fell head-over-heels in love with grilled cheese sandwiches. Don’t get me wrong, I always liked grilled cheese sandwiches. Really, really liked grilled cheese sandwiches. But I’d never before had anything on a grilled cheese sandwich besides cheese until finding this masterpiece made with chipotle mayo and sliced tomato.

Since it’s a pretty long commute from Oregon to Wisconsin, I have to recreate the sandwich in my kitchen. Luckily, it’s easy to do. Well, for most people it’s easy to do. I find grilled cheese sandwiches challenging to make at times. I somehow end up with burned bread and barely melted cheese. To ensure this doesn’t happen, I’ve taken to grilling the bread over medium-low heat. To facilitate the cheese melting process, I cover the pan.

Though you can make a delicious homemade mayo for this sandwich, I like to take a short cut.

Mix a little bit of mayo with some ground chipotle pepper. The more pepper, the bigger the kick.

My dad says my sandwiches are better than Alterra’s. That’s a compliment I’ll take any day.

We believe there are three fundamental rules for making a kick@ss grilled cheese sandwich. One – it should NEVER be made with American cheese (unless you’re making it for a child or an adult who eats like a child). Two – you cannot skimp on the cheese. Cheese should be dripping from the sandwich as soon as you plate it (and especially when you cut into it). Three – you gotta use butter. You just gotta. And you gotta use enough butter so that the bread isn’t dry. Who wants a grilled cheese sandwich that’s bone-dry on the outside?

Recipe rating: 