Balsamic Pear Grilled Cheese

There’s nothing like a grilled cheese sandwich for the perfect weekend lunch; but it sometimes needs to be livened up a bit. Enter the elevated grilled cheese: in this case, a gorgeous balsamic onion and pear grilled cheese. It’s not much more work than a normal grilled cheese, but the flavor payoff is amazing.

Onions are caramelized with balsamic vinegar and sugar, before being assembled into a gorgeous sandwich featuring pears and a lovely cheese of your choice. Unfortunately, I can’t take full credit for this balsamic onion and pear grilled cheese recipe: it’s adapted from Daphne Oz’s The Happy Cook, which I found at my local library. It’s part of my new cookbook review section (coming soon!).

Anyway; this grilled cheese is impressive, but also so easy. What more do you need to know? Get cooking!

 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 sweet yellow onion, sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

4 slices bread (homemade is tasty, but any kind works)

1 tablespoon mayonnaise, at room temperature

4 slices Havarti cheese (Daphne also recommends Gouda, Gruyere, or cheddar)

1 pear, cored and sliced

 

Instructions

First, melt half of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion begins to caramelize. Pour in the vinegar and sugar, and let the liquid reduce, cooking for about 2 minutes. Set the onions aside, and wipe out the skillet.

Assemble the sandwiches by layering cheese, onion, and pear to your liking. (I like two slices of cheese per sandwich.) Cover the outside bread of each sandwich with mayonnaise. (Don’t worry, it won’t taste like mayonnaise; it just crisps up beautifully.)

Melt the rest of the butter in the skilled over medium-low heat. Place the sandwiches in the skillet. Finally, press them down with a large plate, and cook the sandwiches until golden brown on each side. Serve warm. Enjoy!