Life in our new home has been filled with love, Amazon shipments, celebratory champagne, attempted green thumbs, and enough cardboard boxes to build Jack a cat-tastic mansion {and I am nearly positive that he's test-napped every empty box he's pounced upon}. Amidst a sea full of styrofoam and packing tape, I finally found our new kitchen sometime early last week. Stumbling around the cabinets that my mom so perfectly organized for us, I felt a bit rusty as I far too frequently turned to reach for phantom drawers of condos past. However, after a few laps between refrigerator, stove, silverware drawer, and spice rack, my squeaky cooking joints seemed to work their kinks out as I established new muscle memories within this kitchen.
This kitchen is already inspiring recipe ideas and it feels so nice to finally give our kitchen-gadget wedding gifts a home of their own. Poor things had been living in C & B boxes in our storage unit for nearly a year by the time we moved. Now they're eager to slice, dice, bake, broil, simmer, and serve.
Simplicity has been theme of our post-move, unpacking meals, and I dared not veer too far from that trend for my first of many kitchen tangos. A while back, I wrote a handful of recipes for a grilled cheese series and only one has since made it to fruition on the blog. Thus, I figured no time like the present to get this series back up and cheesing. Speaking of cheesing, I should probably knock my cheese factor down a notch or two, huh?
I'm in love with this grilled cheese. It's my favorite pizza rolled into one toasty, chewy, flavorful bundle of a sandwich. Fresh mozzarella artfully melts itself over the edges of toasted bread slathered with a simple San Marzano sauce, and the floral notes of sweet basil tame the richness of it all.
- 1 28-ounce can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 small garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- 8 slices of bread from a large, hearty Italian loaf
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt, to taste
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced*
- ½ cup whole basil leaves
- For the sauce, pulse San Marzano tomatoes, sea salt, garlic, and chopped basil in a blender until broken down into a sauce. Pour sauce into a large saucepan and place over medium-high heat on stove. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Heat a grill pan or grill over medium-high heat. Drizzle bread slices with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place bread on grill pan and grill until golden-brown grill marks emerge. Flip and repeat.
- Top 4 slices of grilling bread with a slather of sauce, 2 ounces of fresh mozzarella, and a handful of basil leaves. Top with grilled bread. Continue to grill until cheese melts, flipping halfway through the process. Slice and serve immediately.
Celeste Jackson says
That looks delicious. I like that the ingredients are simple and likely to have on hand.