How to Make the Best Grilled Sandwich

We love grilled sandwiches, and I've improved my technique over time. Here are my steps for making a great grilled sandwich- our favorites are grilled cheese, grilled ham or salami with cheese, or grilled PB and J. The grilling step goes quickly, so start by getting all of your ingredients out and ready (cheese sliced, etc.). We have a George Foreman grill, but I almost always use our trusty cast iron pan- it's much faster to use and to clean. Set your flame to medium-low. Start by warming your bread slightly in the pan, about 30 seconds per side.

Bread warming

Next, swipe mayo on one side of each slice of bread. This is one of the best improvements we've made- I used butter for a long time, but it was hard to spread evenly and didn't crisp up like mayo does. If you haven't tried this, you really should.

Mayo added

Place the bread, mayo-side down, in the pan and immediately top with your cheese. You can use what you have on hand, I generally use at least one slice of American cheese for its melting qualities and then some better cheese, such as block cheddar that I've sliced.

Put a lid on so the cheese will start to soften. Watch that your burner isn't on too high, or your bread will burn.

Once your cheese softens just a bit, add any meat you intend to and close the two pieces of bread together. Continue to cook until the cheese is gooey and the bread is a dark toasty brown.

It's not necessary, but sometimes I will use a bacon press to make more of a panini-style sandwich.

Good color- time to serve

Serve with a good dill pickle and brown mustard. Yum.

This sandwich has some leftover turkey in it, too

Sourdough Boule

I've kept sourdough starter for years. We don't eat a lot of bread, but it's handy to have around for when we want to bake bread, and it makes great pancakes, waffles and biscuits, too. I only have to feed the starter every 4-6 weeks, so it's very low maintenance.

Starter, stored in fridge in a Mason jar

I use the extra-tangy sourdough bread recipe from King Arthur flour here. I generally halve the recipe, which makes a good sized boule for a family of 3-4. The instructions call for starting with fed starter, and I never seem to plan that far in advance. Instead, on a weekend day, I can feed the starter in the morning, wait an hour or two then take out the portion needed for the recipe. Some recipes call for adding yeast. This guidance calls for adding 1/2 tsp of yeast per cup of flour used, and King Arthur's Rustic Sourdough loaf includes yeast.

Starter with the first portion of flour added (first rise)

At lunch time or so, I add the remaining flour and knead the dough. The hydration levels in the starter vary, so the amount of flour is approximate- go by feel of the dough. I have a dough hook for my stand mixer, but in general I knead by hand- it's fun and it allows me to feel the changes in the dough and add enough, but not too much, flour. I let it rise in our oven on the bread rise setting (the oven light provides gentle warmth). I usually do add the citric acid as called for in the recipe to make a nice tangy loaf.

After adding remaining flour, the start of the second rise

Dough after the second rise

After a slow rise, I very loosely follow the advice from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and stretch the top of the dough ball down and under it to form a "gluten cloak."

Dough placed on parchment in dutch oven 

I place the dough ball on parchment in a ceramic dutch oven (a Le Creuset pot) and mist it lightly with water. Make sure that the dutch oven you use has an oven-proof handle. I had to purchase a replacement oven-proof stainless lid handle for this purpose for mine.

Bake the bread with the dutch oven lid on it at 475 F for about 25 min, then remove the lid and bake uncovered for an additional 10-15 min. The times are very approximate, so keep on eye on it.

After baking

Let the bread cool on a rack for at least 20-30 minutes if you can before cutting.

Our Favorite Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate truffle recipes can run the gamut between the high test ones that call for expertly tempered chocolate and using little molds, to the "fake" ones that call for cheap coconut oil coatings instead of real chocolate. I was intimidated when I read complex steps and exact temperatures for tempering chocolate, so I'd put truffles on my don't even try list. Then I learned that I have two neighbors that make chocolate truffles every year- one neighbor buys 60 lbs of chocolate in the fall and then proceeds to make 6-8 flavors of truffles over the next couple of months for Christmas, making 1332 truffles this last year (which she uses for gifts and for numerous holiday parties at her house). A second neighbor and her sister make seven flavors of truffles (mint, Kahlua, Bailey's, chocolate, caramel, maple, and raspberry) every holiday season as gifts. I asked to join them and pitch in, as well as observe the truffle magic. They had already mixed up and chilled the centers in advance, and we proceeded with the dipping of hundreds of truffles using Peters coating.

This experience demystified truffles a bit for me, but I wanted to find a recipe that met certain criteria:

• My husband wanted dark, real chocolate. We weren't interested in flavors- just plain good chocolate, including for the exterior (not a coating-type product)
• No tempering of the chocolate required
• No new equipment needed

I found this recipe for Robert Linxe's chocolate truffles from the Smitten Kitchen that fit the bill.

Note: To modify the recipe linked and below for 1 c of heaving whipping cream rather than 2/3 c:

1 c cream

16 oz chocolate, divided (12 oz for the truffles, 4 ozs for the coating)

While you can use different chocolate, my husband prefers DARK chocolate (plus it's lower in sugar), so I used 72% dark Belgian chocolate from Trader Joe's. This yields a very dark truffle, so it's not for everyone- the recipe calls for chocolate that is 56% cacao, which would be more universally appealing. While you can spend a lot of money on very high-quality chocolate (and someday we may) this is good enough for our tastes and doesn't break the bank.

I followed the recipe and boiled my heavy cream three times, then added 8 oz of chopped chocolate.

While the filling was cooling, I melted the chocolate needed for coating the truffles (3 oz of the same chocolate) for just a bit in the microwave (until it was softened but not completely melted since I didn't want to scorch it) then put it in an old yogurt maker I have that finished melting it at a gentle warm temperature. By the time the filling was solid enough to roll into balls, the coating chocolate was ready to go. I like the method in this recipe of putting a bit of melted chocolate in your palm to coat each truffle- this seems easier than dipping with a loop, and it takes less coating chocolate to get the job done. I preferred not to coat the truffles with cocoa powder as called for in the recipe.

The end result: truffles for Valentine's Day! My husband loves these, and they're a fairly easy special treat.