I read a tweet about it being National Grilled Cheese Day today. Perhaps this is only in the US. Perhaps it’s all in the mind of some lonely dude somewhere, in his sad basement apartment, clinging to the internet for friendship. And for his sanity.
But who cares. Grilled cheese? Yes, please! (As long as it ain’t this kind of cheese.)
But first, a memory: I worked for a tiny restaurant in the Leaside area of Toronto when I was in high school, and one of the most popular lunch sandwiches we served was made of pollock (used to make that imitation crab product) and Swiss cheese grilled on whole wheat bread. People who didn’t know from the yummy of this sandwich would squint and recoil a little when we explained what it was, but those in the know would have it with our delicious salads or choice of soup. We had to change the name from”Crab & Swiss” to “Seafood & Swiss” due to the technicality… but we sold lots and lots and lots of those sandwiches. Freaking delicious, I’ll tell you what. (Another dirty sandwich we used to make was the Monte Cristo. Soooooo good. Le sigh.)
Anyway.
That imitation crab stuff isn’t something I normally have a use for in my kitchen, though I’ve bought the crab sticks once or twice, and put them in sushi rolls I made at home. This week when I did my grocery shop, the cashier threw in my gift-with-purchase of the week, which was Clover Leaf’s Crab Delectables, which I’d entirely forgotten about it until I unpacked my groceries later that day. I wondered what the hell I’d do with the stuff…
And the tweet said, “NATIONAL GRILLED CHEESE DAY!” on the computer this morning. And I remembered I had a whack of Swiss cheese in the fridge, too.
So, you take your whole wheat sandwich bread, and lay a slice of Swiss cheese on it, shred apart a good handful of your crab meat, top with another slice of cheese, and then top with your last slice of bread. Butter the outside of your sandwich and grill in a pan.
This isn’t hard. (It’s not your first time grilling a sandwich in a pan, right?) Medium low heat… don’t scorch the poor thing. Salted butter is tastier, but it burns faster than unsalted, so watch for browning. It should look like grilled cheese when it’s done. The fish should be warm inside, too.
I fed it to my kids as a snack when they came home from school today.
Toasted, crunchy, melty, salty sweetness… freaking delicious, I say.
I’ll take National Grilled Cheese Day… even if it isn’t recognised anywhere but at our house. I might declare it so tomorrow, too!!
What’s your favourite kind of grilled cheese?
I think every day should be grilled cheese day!
YUM!! My fav is prosciutto, provolone and arugula with some la bomba sauce! SO GOOD!
I personally abhor seafood, but I LOVE grilled cheese (with the caveat that it must be actual cheese…detest the processed stuff as you do). Something tangy and swiss-like, on some crusty multigrain bread? And Monte Cristo sandwiches…what a blast from the past! That used to be my fave thing to order at The Magic Pan. Do they even still exist? Mouth…watering…drooling…
I’m coming to your house after school some day.