Do you know, I don’t remember my mom ever making a grilled cheese sandwich?  Why mommy, WHY???  She must have had something against American Cheese since we never really had it in our house.  Not to worry…you can make it with something other than over processed cheese.  Really!  And…and…you can put other stuff in it to make it a rich gooey mess that is sure please both adults and children.  Happy Day!

I had an awesome pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich with sweet pickled onions and Tillamook cheddar cheese at a restaurant here.  It was so rich I couldn’t finish the whole thing. Obviously, I needed to learn how to make my own variety.

To start, you need some meat.  Rich meat that has been cooked in a sauce all day in the crockpot and can be pulled apart with a fork is ideal.  I used some baked chicken we had the night before that had been marinaded all day in Lawry’s Baja Chipotle marinade.  Love that stuff.

Next cut them up in little bits to fit into the sandwiches.  You don’t need a huge layer, and I couldn’t have a huge layer because we only had one piece left.  You gotta deal with the hand you’ve been dealt.

Now, you need some carmelized onions.  Basically just onions that have been cut with the rounds, fried up in some butter (YAY!), olive oil and then 1-2 TBSP sugar.  They have such a great flavor.  It takes about 10-15 minutes to do this part.

Now, the cheese.  I happily found a pound of Tillamook Cheddar at Costco in my most recent foray into the store.  I was hungry when I shopped…always a bad and very spendy idea.  Cut the cheddar into slices for the sandwhiches.

Now the bread.  Use whatever bread you desire, but a nice artisan loaf is always pleasant.  Unfortunately we didn’t have any in the house, so we used a wheat/whole grain bread.

Next, butter (YAY!) the tops and bottons.  Get your grill going (I use our electric frying pan at 350 degrees) and put the bottom, butter side down and start layering cheese, onions, chicken and cheese.  Top with the other piece of bread, butter side out.

Now, watch the gooey concoction until it has a nice brown side and flip it over.  When done, serve up your decadent selection with a nice bottle of wine.  Brian’s recommendation: I think a Syrah, Grenache, or blend would work well due to the rich, smoky flavors in the sandwich.

ENJOY!