So, what do you do with leftover cheese after throwing several fondue parties of biblical proportions? Make grilled cheese, of course.

I've long been a lover of grilled cheese. It was my favorite lunch growing up. In fact, there was a time that it was the only lunch I would eat. My mother would butter up some white bread, slap in some Kraft American Cheese Slices, and fry it all up in her black cast iron pan. When I turned eight and had subsequently developed a more discerning taste, I would request that my mother pop in onions or sliced dill pickles or tomatoes. If I was feeling really experimental? I'd got for all three at once.

These days I like my grilled cheese pretty pure and simple, but I also go for a higher caliber cheese than Kraft. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for Kraft cheese. I mean, both Kraft American Cheese Slices and pre-shredded bagged cheddar satisfies my late-night, deadline-driven cravings for trashy cheese, but when it comes to my grilled cheese sandwiches, I go gourmet.

First thing to remember is that you want a good melting cheese for your sandwich. Even if it weren't the case that we had recently made floods of fondue and had gobs of Gruyère lying around, Gruyère is still my grilled cheese cheese of choice. My COC, as it were. Emmi Cave-Aged Gruyère has a nutty, intense flavor with a touch of sweetness that actually balances very well well with sourdough bread. Other semi-soft cheeses I might use are Comte, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Raclette, or even a summer milk Morbier. A few of my cheesemongering friends like to take their grilled cheese a step farther and mix their grated semi-soft cheese with a fresh cheese like chèvre or fromage blanc to get a really creamy consistency, but I haven't tried that yet.



A few of you out there might question my use of sourdough bread, but I specifically like using bread with lots of holes in it. That way, some of the cheese oozes down to the pan and makes crunchy orange patches all over the surface of the bread. Also keep in mind that to ensure even meltage (that's my own word, "meltage." Spread it around.) you want the cheese to be grated, not sliced.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese
Yield: 1 sandwich

Butter, softened at room temperature
Two 1/2-inch slices sourdough bread
1/3 cup grated Gruyère
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high head. Spread one side of each piece of bread with the softened butter and place one slice -- butter side down -- in the heated skillet.

2. In a large bowl, toss the pepper with the grated cheese and gently pile the cheese on the bread slice in the skillet. Put the other slice of bread on top of the grated cheese -- butter side up -- and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the sandwich and cook on the other side until golden brown.



Note: If the bread is a nice golden brown, but the cheese hasn't fully melted, lower the heat to medium and cook until the cheese melts. Make sure to flip the sandwich a few times to encourage even melting.