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Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Avocado

Source of Recipe

From "The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook" by Tom Douglas


Recipe Introduction

"For a soul-satisfying lunch, it's hard to think of anything that can beat a warm grilled cheese sandwich, toasted golden brown and oozing cheese—unless of course it's a warm grilled cheese sandwich with crisp slices of bacon and a layer of lush mashed avocado. My wife, Jackie, likes the avocado inside the sandwich, but I prefer to spread the cool avocado on top of the sandwich after it's been griddled. Beecher's cheese, a local favorite, made every day in the Pike Place Market, has just opened a cheese-making facility and café at 20th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. My favorite Beecher's cheese is the Flagship Reserve truckle—a special version of the signature semihard cow's milk Flagship that is cloth-bound and open-air aged. (A truckle is a small wheel of cheese.) Instead of Beecher's Flagship, you can substitute a white cheddar or regular cheddar cheese. Beecher's Flagship cheese is slightly crumbly, so it makes sense to grate it. If your cheese is firmer, you can, if you prefer, thinly slice it instead. Dahlia Bakery cooks use our potato loaf for this sandwich. You can use any rustic bread as long as it doesn't have large holes; otherwise, the cheese will seep through the holes and stick to the pan. The shape and size of your bread slices will depend on the size of your loaf, of course. Our bread slices were about 6 by 4 inches, and we used 12 ounces of cheese in all. If your slices of bread are smaller, you may need only 8 ounces of cheese to make four sandwiches."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 8 thick-cut bacon slices
â—¦ 1 large ripe avocado
â—¦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ A lemon or lime wedge
â—¦ 8 slices rustic bread, cut about ½ inch thick
â—¦ 4 to 6 tablespoons (½ to ¾ stick) butter, softened, as needed
â—¦ 8 to 12 ounces Beecher's Flagship or white cheddar or regular cheddar, grated, as needed


Recipe

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until golden and crisp on both sides. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels. Set aside. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the avocado flesh. Put the avocado in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper and a squirt of lemon or lime. Set aside.

Place the eight bread slices on a work surface and generously spread one side of each slice of bread with some butter. Turn the bread over so the unbuttered sides are facing up. Top four slices of bread with grated cheese, covering the entire surface of the slice of bread and dividing the cheese evenly among the four slices. Spread the other four slices of bread with the mashed avocado, dividing it evenly, then top the avocado with 2 slices of bacon. Press a cheese-topped bread slice an an avocado-bacon-topped bread slice together, with the fillings on the insides and the buttered sides facing out. You will have 4 sandwiches.

Place two large sauté pans over medium heat and place 2 sandwiches in each pan. When the first side is golden brown, turn the sandwiches and brown the other side, about 3 minutes per side. If needed, add a little more butter to the pan while browning the sandwiches. When both sides are golden brown and the cheese is melted, remove the sandwiches from the pan, slice them in half on the diagonal, and serve hot.

Makes 4 sandwiches