Heady Draft

This was a robust grilled cheese with a bold and complex flavor profile brought about by the caramelized onions, smoky cheese and dark beer.

A Vegetarian & Cooking! original grilled cheese.

Ingredients:

-2 slices Italian bread

-2 ounces smoked mozzarella

-1 small onion

-1 small jalapeno

-1/2 cup porter (beer)

-1/2 cup water

-1 tablespoon butter

-1 teaspoon mustard

-1 teaspoon corn starch

-1 teaspoon flour

Slice the onion and jalapeno, and remove the ribs and seeds. Saute until golden. In a medium saucepan, heat the butter, then the water, corn starch and mustard over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Add the beer and the flour and simmer until it thickens.

The sandwich can be grilled open-faced, with the smoked mozzarella atop the bread, under a mound of jalapenos and onions. Cook on low heat so that the cheese can melt adequately without the bread burning.

Flip together, and serve with beer gravy on the side, to dip.

Alternatively, smother the sandwich in gravy and tuck in with a knife and fork.

Here, sauteed onions are always welcome, and the smokiness of the cheese gives a very distinctive essence. My beer gravy had an underlying bitterness, and lent to the whole sandwich a strength of character.