Or, comfort food with a bit of a kick. (for days when you need both…)
Seems like lots of us need both comfort and a jumpstart on the massive pile of work before us. I had a zombie apocalypse/hurricane/food blogging dream about Houston last night, and I woke up wondering how I was going to make black bean burgers now that my kitchen had zombie alligators living beneath its floodwaters. Possibly I have also been dwelling too much on the season finale of Game of Thrones. Ahem.
I know that the monsoon rains in South Asia are much, much worse, but for some reason the storytelling about hurricane Harvey has really gripped me. Those pictures of women in their flooded kitchens, oh boy. Ladies, the weight of what you have ahead of you is beyond me. Did anyone else read the rules the FDA sent out for what those folks should do with their foodstuffs as the power failed and the waters rose? The women cooking all the meat in their freezer, unsure if they would get a chance to eat it before the flooding but knowing the food would certainly rot in fridges and freezers without power for the foreseeable future? I know that seems small in the face of the massive scale of the disaster, but massive scales can be dehumanizing. The little what-to-do-in-your-kitchen-before-the-storm-hits stuff, the human moments, tell a totally different story. I hope it helps that lots of us with kitchens on dry land are trying to help out in any way we can. I’m not sure that it really does, though.
Anyway, if you are also having one of those weeks in which everything seems to be tangled up together and massively unsolvable like the worst of your epic logic and set theory problem sets (just me with that one? ok then.), then this sandwich is for you. It isn’t an ooey-gooey oozey grilled cheese, like so many you see on blogs these days. There are no melty cheese strings here. But there is this awesome bitter/sour taste combo from the kale and pickles that works really well with your strongest aged cheddar.
You know, comfort with shouty capitals. Fuel for what happens next.
I also tried out Ruth Reichl’s grilled cheese hack (well, it might be from elsewhere but I found it here from Ms. Reichl) with the putting of the mayo (instead of butter) on the outside of the sandwich. I liked it. I didn’t want a buttery hit here, with all the other stuff going on inside. Also: mayo is very spreadable, and it is too hot to keep room temp butter in our apartment right now.
- 1 cup chopped lacinato kale
- ½ of a medium onion, sliced thin
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 slices sourdough bread, or some other sturdy loaf
- 2 tablespoons mayo
- a good handful of grated cheddar, the stronger the better
- 4-5 cornichons, sliced thin (other pickles would probably work well, too)
- Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until brown and tangled, then add the kale and soften. Remove to a plate and keep the pan warm for the sandwich.
- Spread mayo on one side of a slice of bread, then place the slice spread-side-down in the pan. Layer most of the cheese, then the kale & onions, then the pickles, then top with the last of the cheese. Spread the other slice of bread with mayo, then top the sandwich with the bread, spread-side-up.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the bread is toasty brown and the cheese has started to melt. Flip the sandwich carefully (this isn't a clean flip, since there is not a ton of melty cheese to bind the filling), then cook for 2 minutes more, or until the other side is toasty as well.
- Slice and enjoy.