Napa Farmhouse 1885™: Inside/Outside Grilled Cheese with Bacon, Avocado & Sundried Tomatoes

I recently learned this amazing trick for making grilled cheese sandwiches and could not wait to share with you. A friend posted a link to Food Wishes, Chef John's technique for adding cheese to the outside of the bread, as well as the inside. This results in a sandwich with ooey gooey melted cheese on the inside and a crispy, crunchy cheese crust on the outside. OMG! I am obsessed. I googled this process and found many versions and numerous comments from people claiming they "have made grilled sandwiches this way for years!", but I am going to credit Chef John.

Notice the crunchy cheese crust? Delicious.

Imagine grilled cheese with crisp bacon (bacon!), creamy buttery avocado, sweet sundried tomatoes and caramelized onions. Now grill some more cheese on the outside. How good does that sound? Hint...it is even better than that. Make this as soon as you can pull together the ingredients.

*Note, the measurements for the ingredients in the following recipe are just a guideline. Use as little or as much as you want for each sandwich.

Inside/Outside Grilled Cheese with Bacon, Avocado & Sundried Tomatoes
(1 sandwich)

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (I used chile-infused olive oil)
1/4 cup sliced white onion
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 avocado flesh, sliced
4 sun-dried tomatoes marinated in olive oil, sliced
3 slices crisp bacon
sea salt
pepper

Melt butter and olive oil in medium sized skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and beginning to caramelize. Remove onions with a slotted spoon. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Spread mustard on one side of one slice of bread. Place bread mustard side up in the skillet. Top mustard with 1/2 cup cheese, avocado, tomatoes, sauteed onion and the bacon. Season with a small pinch each salt and pepper. Place the other slice of bread in skillet alongside the cheese topped bread and cook for 30 seconds. Place the slice, cooked side up, on top of cheese topped slice. Sprinkle 1/2 of remaining cheese on top of the top slice of sandwich. Flip sandwich so grated cheese is on the bottom. Cook until outside cheese is crunchy and inside cheese is melted. (about 4 minutes). Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of the sandwich and flip. Cook until second side cheese is crispy and crunchy. (2-3 minutes).

Remove from heat, cut in two and serve immediately.

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