This is a continuation of an ongoing competition I’m having with myself to find the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich. I got this idea from a comment on my previous attempt at a good grilled cheese (Thanks Phil!). It’s been awhile since my last post but I made a note that I wanted to try this. This is the pesto and brie grilled cheese:
This was heavenly.
This sandwich is not terribly hard. I guess the hardest part is making the pesto. You could totally buy it if you wanted, but I never think that store bought pesto has quite the kick that homemade can have.
Pesto
- 1/2 cup basil
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil (adjust to your taste/texture)
- 3 cloves garlic
- handful of pecans
- 2 Tablespoons cilantro
= Salt and Pepper
This is pretty cheap pesto for me to make as I usually have some ingredients laying around for a pesto. The only thing I bought for this was the cilantro (we have a small basil plant that keeps us happy in that department). There are tons of pesto substitutions you can use. Instead of pecans try pine nuts. Instead of cilantro, try parsley. Or leave them out.
Don’t stress about it. It will be delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever made the exact same pesto twice.
Add these things to the basil.
Anyway, once you have all of these things, give them a few pulses in your processor. If you don’t have a food processor, I guess you could very finely chop up the ingredients and then stir it together with the olive oil. That would be much more work though obviously.
Very simple. Very delicious.
The second part of this sandwich is the brie. This makes this sandwich a bit expensive, but man is it good. I found an 8 ounce wheel of brie for $6. I was actually planning on using Mozzarella but they were out so I went with this. Either would work I think.
8 ounces of love.
The thing about brie is that it is supposed to be eaten as a spread. It is really soft and kind of awkward to work with. I cut off the rind on my wheel and then tried to slice up the stuff. This amount of cheese made two large sandwiches.
Slicing brie is not the easiest task in the kitchen.
The third ingredient in this equation is the bread. I went with a nice sourdough which was a good choice. It held up perfect to the filling. I think sourdough may be the perfect grilled cheese bread actually because it cooks really evenly and doesn’t burn as quickly as white bread. At the same time, it doesn’t overpower the filling like a rye bread would do.
Butter up one side well on four slices.
This is my bread and butter.
Then flip over each piece and slather on the pesto. You want pesto on the top and the bottom! My fear at this step was that this would be too pesto-y. Nope. It was awesome.
Don't be afraid of the slather technique.
Then I used my pan as a place to build my sandwich. Piled in my brie and put on the top piece.
This pan is not on yet... just using it to assemble.
Cook these guys on medium heat until the brie is melted and the bread is nice and brown.
Holy Pesto.
As with the other two sandwiches I’ve made, I’ll try to rank this guy.
Cheesiness: 8. Brie is just a lovely cheese for a sandwich. It melts quickly and is very gooey and delicious.
Bread: 10. I don’t think I can beat the bread on this sandwich as far as grilled cheese goes. I’m going to keep trying, but this was supreme.
Fillings: 8. Pesto was perfect and flavorful and complimented the cheese well.
Overall: 9. This is going to be a tough sandwich to beat.
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There is a certain sandwich a friend of mine had, at a restaurant in Austin, that she raves about still, years later. It was grilled, it had a few ingredients she remembers, but the rest is foggy. So I’ve been trying to recreate it, every now and then, based on what she remembers. And as you can imagine: difficult.
I feel reinspired, though. Your sandwich looks so good–and seriously, the bread looks browned perfectly! Thanks for the nudge!
Mmmm. Now I know what I want for lunch! I happen to have some pesto and some fresh mozzarella in the refrigerator, and I bought LaBrea rosemary-olive oil bread at Costco yesterday. I am THERE.
…and with half an hour to go until lunch my mouth is now watering out of control.
Oh lord … you’ve picked up on exactly what I was craving right now! Even though I’ve had lunch already, I wish I was having THIS instead! *slobbering*
woah. i’m ready for the jetsons-esque ‘reach into the screen and pull out your lunch’ idea to manifest.
in the meantime, this will be in my dreams.
Looks amazing. Bread is browned perfectly and the melting cheese looks so mouth-watering!
Have you tried using mayo on the outside of the sandwich instead of butter? It makes things extra crisp-ified. But go light.
Wow, this looks delicious with the pesto and sourdough- I think sourdough is my fave bread for grilled cheese.
That is a nice looking sandwich!
I saw this from TasteSpotting and made it tonight on Essential Baking Company herbed focacia. Delicious!! I was worried the brie would melt too much and get messy, but it was just perfectly gooey and warm. I’ll definitely remember this combo for future grilled sandwiches!
Mmm, that looks fantastic. Ooey gooey goodness, yum!
Maybe I should have taken the book club Brie home and made this grilled cheese!
I’ve never thought about using brie on a grilled cheese. What a fabulous idea!
omg i love brie, so that looks like an awesome sandwich. may i say i love your photos?
Wow I LOVE pesto! I didn’t even think about it going on a grilled cheese sandwich!
Ooh la la.
[...] my search for inspiration for this grilled cheese sandwich, I stumbled upon Macheesmo.com’s Pesto and Brie Grilled Cheese. Ignoring the fact that this sandwich looks delicious, I noticed at the end he rated cheesiness, [...]
I will be making this before I give up cheese for Lent next week!
Yum! Have you submitted this to the Grilled Cheese Academy yet? http://www.grilledcheeseacademy.com/submitrecipe