Grilled Cheese - Not An Ordinary Sandwich

This month's Crazy Cooking Challenge is Grilled Cheese. How could I resist when cheese is one of my favorite foods.

April was National Grilled Cheese Month (who knew?) so there were quite a few grilled cheese posts in blogsphere. The one sandwich that caught my interest was from Lana at Lana's Cooking.

Lana's pepperoni pizza grilled cheese sandwich looked delicious. I had no doubt that everyone would luv this grilled cheese sandwich, but I didn't have pepperoni and I needed to make lunch pronto.

Using Lana's 'pizza' style grilled cheese sandwich as my inspiration I decided to make a white pizza with spinach grilled cheese sandwich since all I had in the fridge was fresh baby spinach, leftover ricotta, mozzarella and half a loaf of Italian bread.

My white pizza with spinach grilled cheese sandwich is a take on the 'white pizza' that is made in many pizzeria's, especially in NY and NJ. The white pizza has only ricotta cheese on it and some pizzeria's will add a variety of toppings of your choice if you ask.

This sandwich was so delicious I hope you give it a try.

White Pizza With Spinach Grilled Cheese

                                                                                             Ingredients:

• 8 Italian bread slices about 1/4" to 1/2" thick
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 6-8 slices mozzarella
• approx. 8-10 spinach leaves (washed & dried)
• grated parmesean cheese (optional)
• oregano, basil (optional)
• salt & pepper to taste
• drizzle of olive oil for each slice of bread
• 1 TBLS. butter

Directions:

1. Pre-heat a griddle pan.
2. Lay out bread slices and drizzle olive oil on each slice. Divide the slices using half for the filling and the rest for the top of the sandwich.
3. Evenly spread ricotta on top of the drizzled olive oil bread slice, add mozzarella, salt & pepper and other herbs and/or cheese if using, then add the spinach leaves & a smaller piece of mozzarella on top to hold the sandwich together.
4. Place the remaining bread slices, olive oil side down, to make the sandwich.
5. Add the butter to the heated griddle pan then add the sandwiches to the melted butter.
6. Place a cover over the sandwiches to add a little weight which will help to seal the sandwiches. Cook about 2 minutes or just until browned and then turn over to brown the other side.

Mangia!
Winelady Cooks