To everyone who has ever asked me, “When are you ever gonna do a cookbook?” I’m excited to finally answer…SOON! My first cookbook, based on Panini Happy, will be published by the Harvard Common Press next year and I can hardly wait.

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The day has come – our celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month must draw to a close. We’ve had a great cheesy run this year with some great new sandwich recipes and interviews with a few of my favorite cheese experts. But before we bid farewell to grilled cheese for a while (at least a week), I have one last topic to cover…

…The Grilled Cheese Invitational! You may remember when I judged the event last year – over-cheesing aside, I was eager to return again this past weekend at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Even the weather was toasty – I downed six bottles of water throughout the afternoon! – but I had an incredible time nonetheless witnessing (and tasting!) the profuse amount of grilled cheese creativity among the amateur and professional competitors. The event is a little quirky, very cheesy and a ton of fun.

The event has grown so huge, it moved to the Rose Bowl this year.

I asked this guy how much cheese was in this enormous tub. His response: "About $300 worth!"

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My sisters and I would always urge our mom to start at the deli when we accompanied her to the supermarket growing up. Actually, we referred to it “The delicatessen!”,  another one of those words (like “pocketbook”, “dungarees” and “tunafish”) that my family brought over to California from New York. Whatever you want to call it, we loved the counter for one reason: the samples. My mom would buy the cold cuts for the week (we knew this as “lunch meat”) and inevitably the clerk would run a few extra slices for us to snack on. This would buy my mom a few minutes of calm while she attempted to shop with three kids in tow.

It was during one of these childhood delicatessen sampling sessions that I first tried Jarlsberg cheese. It had holes and a cool name that started with a “j” even though it sounded like it should start with a “y”. It wasn’t bright yellow, square shaped and individually-wrapped and no one in my Girl Scout troop had ever heard of it. This was some fancy cheese. And I declared it as my favorite.

As we get ready to wrap up National Grilled Cheese Month, I wanted to share my recipe for Grilled Jarlsberg with Shaved Asparagus and Lemony Arugula Pesto as well as a Grilled Cheese Kit Giveaway (including a skillet, cheese, grater and cookbook!), courtesy of Jarlsberg USA. Read on for both! [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]

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Laura Werlin

When you ask a cheese expert like Laura Werlin – a grilled cheese expert, no less – to share one of her favorite grilled cheese recipes, you gotta be ready for something pretty unbelievable. The James Beard award-winning author immediately suggested her Chips and Guacamole Grilled Cheese: smooth-melting Colby and Jack cheeses, dotted with tangy dabs of goat cheese, and layered with smoky bacon and fresh guacamole on tortilla chip-crusted sourdough bread. Un-be-lievable.

I met Laura a year ago when we both served as Executive Judges for the Grilled Cheese Invitational (if you’re in the area, this year’s event will be held this Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California). When she told me that her fifth book, Grilled Cheese, Please!, had just launched I knew she’d be a perfect guest to interview for Panini Happy. In our recent conversation, Laura shared her thoughts on the new wave of grilled cheese sandwiches, her tips for making the best grilled cheese and, of course, the recipe for that incredible chips and guac sandwich.

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With April being National Grilled Cheese Month I’ve seen all kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches lately – on blogs, Pinterest and at eateries. There appears to be a wide range of how people interpret grilled cheese. I was curious to know how you personally define grilled cheese. Is it cheese only? Mostly cheese? Only a little cheese required?

Most of us have an image of a grilled cheese sandwich as just being oozy cheese, bread and butter. My definition of a grilled cheese sandwich is a sandwich where cheese is the star. It may have other ingredients that will prop the cheese up but won’t obscure it. You have to have a good quantity of cheese for that to be the case. Likewise, you probably want to have less of the other ingredients so that the cheese is never placed second-fiddle.

Let’s talk about trends in grilled cheese. The use of pasta – such as the Grilled Cheese Truck’s Cheesy Mac and Rib – is one I’ve noticed. What other trends are you seeing?

I think what you’re seeing is that anything goes. We’ve seen it at the Grilled Cheese Invitational and you’re seeing it in mobile trucks and places that sell grilled cheese. It can be everything from including marshmallows to, as you said, pasta. There’s also a lot of meat. That’s where the definition of grilled cheese gets a little dicey. It might be short ribs and cheese but the question is, which gets top billing? And there’s not necessarily an answer to that, it depends on how it’s made.

You didn’t see the more exotic cheeses being used on grilled cheese a few years ago. It was originally meant to be sort of cheap and comfort food, not gourmet. Now it’s becoming kind of high-fallutin’. You might even find a variation on a grilled cheese in a higher end restaurant. It won’t be the main course but it might be something that accompanies a soup or something like that. And it might be truffled cheese.

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Rajas…isn’t it great when you can finally put a name to something you’ve been eating forever? I never knew until about a year ago that bold-flavored strips of roasted chiles and onions are called rajas. I made the connection not in the context of rajas con crema or any other traditional Mexican dish. Nope, my first exposure to the term rajas came with fries.

There was a long line of people waiting for the Rajas Fries from LA’s Frysmith at a food truck event I attended a while back. This dish, their most popular, consists of “fire-roasted poblano chiles, caramelized onions and shawarma-marinated steak with Jack cheese”. Over fries. Sounded amazing to this fry fan.

I made it to the front of the line and I had to crane my neck to make eye contact with the guy taking the orders (food truck windows are so high up!). I’d never heard the term rajas before. I debated in my head whether this was a Spanish word and therefore I should pronounce it “rrrrah-has” or if it was some other language and I should just hit it with a regular ol’ American “rah-jas”. Taking a cue from the poblanos and out of respect for the seven years of Spanish I took in school, I went with a tentative “rah-has”. Phew! The guy repeated it back to me the same way. Hurdle surmounted.

Take it from someone who usually doesn’t even add so much as ketchup to fries (I’m a fry purist), these rajas-and-marinated-steak-loaded fries were crazy good! Just to be clear, the roasted poblanos aren’t especially spicy, but they bring a ton of flavor and just a hint of heat.

In celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month, Tillamook asked me to contribute a recipe for the Grilled Cheese Recipepalooza feature on their Loaf Life blog. When I saw that pepper jack these was among their cheeses I could choose from, I immediately thought of the rajas from Frysmith to pair with it. I grilled the onions and peppers in minutes right on the panini maker. With the addition of pepper jack, things do start to get a little spicier so if you’d rather keep it on the cooler side go for regular Monterey Jack.

Read on for my Rajas Grilled Cheese Panini recipe…plus the chance to win a Tillamook Cheese Deli Sampler Gift Box! [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]

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Brie, basil, bacon and blue…can you tell I’ve been reading more than my fair share of Dr. Seuss lately? Well, it’s just a happy coincidence that all of these great ingredients start with “B” (as does Breville, which is sponsoring a fantastic panini press giveaway today!). They happen to combine into a pretty amazing grilled cheese sandwich. Our celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month continues!

Even if you’re not a fan of blue cheese – I’m speaking to my husband here – you still have got to dab on just a little bit (close your eyes if you have to). The tangy flavor almost borders on tasting sweet amidst the smoky bacon, fresh basil and creamy Brie. I couldn’t crunch my way through that baguette fast enough.

Read on for my Brie, Basil, Bacon and Blue Panini recipe and for today’s Breville Panini Press Giveaway [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]!
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We’re almost halfway through April – it’s about time we started celebrating National Grilled Cheese Month, don’t you think? Today – April 12 – has been designated (by whom, I don’t know) as National Grilled Cheese Day, which I suppose makes it an especially important day within Grilled Cheese Month.

We’ve got an especially delicious sandwich to kick off the celebration on Panini Happy – Grilled Gruyère with Red Onion Confit  - as well as my interview with  the owner of my favorite cheese shop here in San Diego, Gina Freize of Venissimo Cheese (this is one of the sandwiches they love to serve at their shops). Gina - whose official company title is “Cheese Wiz” – has a passion  for cheese that you can hear in her voice. She has channeled that passion into a successful business, which in the past 8 years has expanded to four locations within Southern California. Gina and I had the chance to chat all about cheese: the best way to store it, which cheeses melt best for grilled cheese sandwiches, how we can learn about cheese, and more.

What led you to enter the cheese business?

It was pure love of cheese, my absolute favorite food in the world. Growing up, if there was ice cream in the freezer or cheese in the fridge, that cheese was mine, no question. It really was that love. My mom is from Austria so we have relatives over there. Having traveled there and seeing the cheese shops – the light bulb went off, “Why don’t we have cheese shops here? I love cheese. This is a business to have.” So that’s what started it all.

When did you open Venissimo?

The very first Venissimo was in Mission Hills and that opened January 17, 2004. We’ve had more than 2,000 different cheeses come through since.

Whether we’re buying an artisanal cheese from a specialty cheese shop like Venissimo or picking up something more everyday the grocery store, what are some good tips for storing cheese that will allow it to taste its best?

At Venissimo we have that special cheese wrap paper that lets the cheese breathe a little. But if you buy something shrink-wrapped from the grocery store get it out of that tight plastic and wrap it in waxed paper or even put it in a Tupperware-type container that gives the cheese a little bit of air to breathe but also seals it off. That’s what you’re after to store the cheese.

It’s so fascinating, the tighter and longer the cheese is wrapped in plastic the quicker it goes bad. It really does suffocate the cheese. It also impacts the flavor. Just like you wrap other foods in plastic it kind of takes on a plastic taste. It’s no different with cheese. Giving it a little air to breathe lets it smell and taste the way it should.

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There was no containing the excitement I had over the opportunity to spend a morning exploring the Lower East Side of New York City with Ruth Reichl. A lucky group of about 25 of us, in conjunction with last week’s IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) conference, joined the iconic Gourmet editor and food writer to experience the rich history of this area of Manhattan come to life through food.

The Lower East Side tour – I’ll tell you all about it in a minute – was just one of a myriad of “wo0 hoo!” moments I had on this packed, whirlwind New York trip. I could go on for post after post about meeting Sara Moulton and getting to tell her that Sara’s Secrets was the first cooking show I ever watched regularly, trying and liking my first bone marrow on toast at Prune (and seeing Top Chef Masters winner Floyd Cardoz there too!), touring the test kitchens at Food Network and Bon Appetit, spotting Jacques Pépin in the hotel lobby and Wolfgang Puck across the street at Good Morning America, having an amazing Ethiopian meal up at Massawa near Columbia University with my local Manhattanite friend Rachel followed by a forty-block walk back down to Momofuku Milk Bar for a slice of their famous crack pie (oh yes, it’s addictive!) – but how about I just share the details on the Lower East Side tour, which was probably my favorite highlight of them all.

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If you overheard a triumphant yelp coming from my kitchen yesterday afternoon that was me, elated over the fact that I finally figured out how to grill duck breast on the panini maker with crispy skin!

It practically became a mission. I grilled duck breast after duck breast – skin side up, skin side down, high heat, low heat. Over and over again I got the same result – quickly cooked meat with a rubbery fat cap on top. The financial expense was starting to add up (duck breast isn’t cheap). Defeated, I was ready to put this idea aside and move on. I had one final duck breast left and I went for a Hail Mary pass – cooking the duck skin-side down with the grill open in hopes that this approach would give the duck a chance to render its fat without cooking the meat too fast.

After six or seven minutes I peered under the duck to find the result that had been eluding me thus far: browned, crispy skin! I flipped the duck breast, closed the lid, and the other side finished cooking several minutes later.

High fives all around!

After all of the effort that went into figuring out the technique to grill the duck just how I wanted, it only seemed fitting to use it in an extra special sandwich. My husband came up with the concept for Grilled Duck Breast Club Panini – slices of that succulent duck breast, layered with strips of smoky bacon, fresh tomatoes and arugula, and creamy Brie. It’s a decadent combination for sure, but I doubt you’ll have any trouble finding someone willing to split one of these with you.

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You can’t pinch this blog – I’m wearing my St. Patrick’s Day green this week! There’s nothing especially Irish about these Grilled Asparagus Tartines with Fresh Ricotta, Pesto and Scallions, but they usher in spring with plenty of bright green color, crunchy texture and fresh flavor.

And, by the way, that’s homemade ricotta on there!

Ever since my mozzarella cheesemaking escapade I’ve been eager to try making ricotta. Everyone says it’s way better than the packaged stuff, and they were so right. The homemade ricotta actually tasted more like milk and less like salt compared to the kind I usually buy. Texture-wise, it was softer – closer to a really small-curd cottage cheese. A recipe for 5-minute ricotta I found on Serious Eats called for just milk, vinegar and salt – I couldn’t resist giving it a try. It doesn’t make much – just half a cup – but it’s enough to provide a creamy base for these terrific tartines.

This was the most fresh-tasting little sandwich snack I’ve had in a while. I made them in full sandwich size, but you could easily make a mini crostini version and serve them as green springtime appetizers. Enjoy!

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