Due to the toasty carbohydrate combining with the salty cheese, and the crisp contrasting with the gooey, a grilled cheese sandwich is just about perfection. Part of the wonderful thing about this sandwich, though, is the ability to put a personal spin on it, customizing based totally on mood, craving, obtainable ingredient, or occasion. A number of the widespread strategies to play collectively along with your grilled cheese is to swap out the bread, from sliced white to sourdough or seeded rye — or even an English muffin grilled cheese. However it appears, you may be sleeping on slices that aren’t actually bread the least bit.
Polenta, the cornmeal-based Italian dish, is a culinary chameleon. It might be creamy and porridge-like, served at breakfast with eggs, or a sweet mannequin with vanilla and brown sugar. Nonetheless you may additionally uncover firmer polenta that could be cubed and even remodeled into fries. It might even be sliced — and when grew to become the premise for a grilled sandwich, your polenta will get a critical enhance. Delicate corn sweetness blended with savory, melting cheese offers the premise of inspiration for every type of mind-blowing outcomes.
Polenta pairs correctly with various good grilled cheese additions, from tomatoes and veggies like mushrooms or eggplant to spreads like herbaceous pesto or sweet fig jam and cheeses resembling blues, creamy chèvre, or sharp cheddars. Fortuitously, this sandwich is a snap to make, so it is best to have a great deal of causes to supply your polenta this principal format improve.
One of the simplest ways to make use of polenta for grilled cheeseBo Zaunders/Getty Images
You presumably can take one in every of two approaches to polenta grilled cheese. It’s a snap to make polenta from scratch. Merely put together dinner your cornmeal with water or stock and seasonings, then unfold on a sheet pan and chill throughout the fridge in a single day. Alternatively, you may discover store-bought prepared polenta that is ready to slice and eat. (On this case, toasting olive oil-brushed slices throughout the oven for about 20 minutes to a half hour sooner than growing your sandwiches will help your polenta to develop style, crisp up, and turn into that craveable golden-brown coloration.)
Each method, you presumably can cut back your firmed up polenta into slices that serve your needs by means of measurement and kind (bite-sized polenta grilled cheeses are fantastic appetizers). Proceed as you will for individuals who had been using regular bread by layering a polenta slice, your chosen cheese and totally different fillings, then one different polenta slice. To toast your tasty sandwiches, observe your favorite method, whether or not or not that’s in a frying pan, on a griddle or grill, and even throughout the oven or broiler for a mess-free grilled cheese. The equivalent hallmarks of doneness apply: It’s possible you’ll want that crispy exterior and cheese that’s melted throughout. There are always debates about whether or not or to not make use of olive oil or butter (some grilled cheese lovers swap in coconut oil) as your frying fat, nonetheless that may rely in your style profile and what tastes most like heaven to you. This polenta grilled cheese will ship it does not matter what.