Last week, I wrote about my dad's grilled cheese for Cup of Jo. When I told my dad I had written about him -- touting his rare kitchen appearances as impressive enough to make a French chef weep -- he claimed I may have oversold his talents.
But I really didn't. His trick for adding relish to a grilled cheese sandwich is smart and addictive and makes other grilled cheeses seem lackluster.
Our tastes don't always vibe: He likes to eat a sandwich he calls a "with", which is Miracle Whip and peanut butter on white bread and makes me squeamish, and he puts mint jelly (!!) on his lamb.
But he also used to make us cream cheese and jelly sandwiches when we were little, introduced me to Bitter Lemon (a sophisticated version of tonic water laced with lemon juice and lemon rind), and would sneak me out of kindergarten to buy caramel Sugar Daddy lollipops at the candy store.
Most importantly, he gets so much pleasure out of food. My sisters and I know his favorites so well -- root beer floats and buttered toast on soft homemade sandwich bread and any kind of upscale doughnut -- and it's so much fun to take him to a tiny crepe shop we like, or to introduce him to the spicy Mexican tacos in Chelsea Market, or to eat fancy snacks and taste swanky cocktails at the Bar Room at the Modern.
Here's his grilled cheese recipe, and you can read more about why I love it so over on Cup of Jo.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Relish
2 slices of thick white sandwich bread
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons sweet relish
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Heat the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Spread both sides of your bread slices with mayonnaise. Make sure you get the mayo all the way to the edges of the bread.
Place one slice of bread in the skillet and place the cheese on top. Top with the second slice of bread and cook, pressing down occasionally with a spatula, until the bottom slice is golden brown and the cheese starts to melt.
Flip the sandwich and cook for several more minutes, until the cheese is fully melted. Remove the sandwich from the pan and (carefully!) pull apart the slices. Spread the relish over the melted cheese and put the sandwich back together.
Eat!