The Dancer Bakes Fancy Grilled Cheese

 It's your regular, unsuspecting grilled cheese, right?
Golden brown and crispy, promising gooey melted comforting goodness inside?

But, see, I can never just let something be.  It's a compulsion of sorts -  I just have to keep playing!

Which is why, when the sandwich gets opened up, you get this:

Gooey melted comforting goodness PLUS sauteed spinach, sundried tomatoes, and herbs, toasted with olive oil instead of butter on whole grain bread.

So...basically, if I want to eat grilled cheese, I have to load it up with veggies.  It's just how I roll.  It's comfort food "light" (if you were next to me, you'd see me doing air quotes on that one): lower in saturated fats since there's no butter, and plenty of vegetable and whole grain nutrition.  Since there's cheese, it's not totally light, but...grilled cheese kinda relies on that bit...

And did I mention yet that it's DELICIOUS??

...I haven't?

My bad.  For the record, it's DELICIOUS.

For this particular sandwich, I also used fancy cheese.
Specifically, Cabot Tomato Basil Cheddar.  Now, would this work with something different - like a Havarti, Mozzarella, even White Cheddar?  Sure!  But in my mind, this cheese took the flavors I added to the mix and enhanced them in the best way possible.  So if Cabot cheeses go on sale at your neighborhood grocery store, snatch this one up - it's well worth it!  If you have pesto on hand, by all that's holy, PLEASE add it - my mouth is watering thinking about it... And while grilled cheese is typically seen as lunch food, this one makes a sensationally tasty quick dinner alongside a salad or a cup of tomato soup!

The Dancer Bakes' Fancy Grilled Cheese
A Dancer Bakes original
Serves one
 
Ingredients:
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided use
1 large handful fresh spinach leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 slices whole grain bread of choice - regular sandwich or artisan
2 oz Cabot tomato basil cheddar cheese
6-7 sundried tomatoes, drained
Pinch each of:
Dried Parsley leaves
Dried Basil leaves
Dried Oregano
Dried Rosemary

Directions:
Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add your spinach leaves, salt, and pepper, and saute until wilted.  Remove to a plate and set aside, briefly setting the hot skillet onto a cool burner.
While spinach is wilting, mix together the remaining olive oil and the dried herbs in a small bowl.  Using a pastry brush, brush one side of each slice of bread with the olive oil and herb mixture.  Layer the cheese, sundried tomatoes, and wilted spinach evenly on the un-oiled side of one of the pieces of bread.  Put the skillet back on the heat, place the bread oil side down in it, and top with the other slice of bread.  Cover and let cook for about 2 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt and the bottom piece of bread is crispy and golden.  Flip the sandwich, cover, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until the whole concoction is melty, crispy, and aromatic.  Remove to a plate, allow to sit for 1-2 minutes, then slice and enjoy!

Tilapia with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce

Thanks to my nutrition class, I was forced to acknowledge some wince-inducing nutrient imbalances, so I've been trying lately to really vary my diet and experiment with more in the kitchen.  So, onto my grocery list went fish and cherry tomatoes.

Now, the cherry tomatoes bit may seem odd to you, but here's the thing: I don't particularly love tomatoes.  Tomato sauce, yes - give me a great basil marinara and I will grin from ear to ear.  But tomatoes?
Raw ones kinda give me the skeeves.
And get cherry tomatoes out of my sight.  Pretty much completely.  They're so much worse than regular tomatoes, especially raw.  Gag me.

But for the sake of my nutrition, cherry tomatoes were purchased.  And cooked.
And consumed with delight.

I had seen Chicken with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce all over the place - like here and here and here - and I was really intrigued despite my loathing for all things tomato.  But I looked at how they were cooked and thought, blackened and juicy with herbs and wine is good... so I faced my skeevy feelings and made the dish, just substituting tilapia filets for the chicken.

Lord Almighty, was that a fantastic idea.

The tilapia was light and flaky, complimented beautifully by the richness of the tomato pan sauce.  And herb butter may be the best culinary invention ever.  Besides frosting.
Even better, this meal came together in pretty much record time.  For something that looks, smells, and tastes this fancy, it was nothing short of magical!  And now I fully understand the blogosphere's obsession with this dish, since I'm obsessed with it too.  I'll have to try it with the original chicken sometime :)

Tilapia with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce
Source: slightly adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2011 via Cook Like a Champion

Ingredients:
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 1 1/2 tsp fresh)
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tilapia filets 
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp olive oil
2 cups (11-12 oz) cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup vegetable broth
splash of dry wine (white is preferable but I used red and it turned out just fine)

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the butter, garlic, oregano, and paprika.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
Preheat the oven to its lowest possible temperature and measure out flour onto a plate or a sheet of wax paper.  Season the fish filets liberally with salt and pepper on both sides, then dredge lightly in flour, shaking off the excess.
Melt one tablespoon of the seasoned butter with the olive oil in a skillet over high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-high when the butter stops foaming.  Place the fish filets in the skillet and cook for about 4 minutes on each side, until the fish is browned on the outside and white and flaky on the inside.  Transfer the fish to a clean oven-safe pan or plate and place in the oven while you make the pan sauce.
Increase the heat under the skillet to high and add the tomatoes to the pan, stirring occasionally until they begin to char and burst.  Add the remaining tablespoon of herb butter to the pan.  Crush the tomatoes slightly with your wooden spoon to help them release their juices, scraping the bottom of the pan to release the flavorful brown bits on the bottom.  Stir in the broth and wine and allow to cook down for a couple minutes.  Remove the fish from the oven, adding any juices that accumulated on the dish to the skillet.  Plate the tilapia filets and top with the tomato sauce - the combination is particularly tasty with rice and a green vegetable.  Enjoy!
 

Pappa al Pomodoro

 

There are certain foods that I get major, major cravings for.

Examples:

Pizza

Bacon cheeseburgers

Chocolate cake

Ice cream

White Chocolate Wonderful and banana sandwiches

Chicken or duck fried rice (cravings especially frequent in Buffalo, where there is no really good Chinese food)

Shrimp Pad Thai

Fettucine Alfredo

Anything with pesto

SOUP

The last one is capitalized because I could eat thick, chunky, hearty soup for lunch and dinner pretty much every day of the week.

Virtually every time I went to Panera over the summer, I got their Garden Vegetable soup.  Most of those times, it was over 90 degrees outside and humid to boot.

Did I care?

Nope.  I wanted soup.

One of the first things I wanted to make when I got back to Buffalo was soup.  Maybe it's because I associate Buffalo with bone-chilling winters that only steaming hot bowls of goodness can cure, or maybe it's because I took a look at the cans of crushed tomatoes I had just bought and immediately thought of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Add grilled cheese to my list of major cravings.

I found the base recipe for this tomato-and-bread soup on Annie's Eats - big shock, since it's one of my all-time favorite blogs - and decided to change up the veggies a bit to use what I had on hand.  It appealed to me both because it could be a total pantry meal and because it's not a pureed soup - the more chunks the better, in my book.

The result?  A thick, hearty, chunky tomato soup that put a gigantic smile on every person's lips through which it passed.  Served with a salad, it became a complete meal - and one of my new favorites!

Another plus: this makes a HUGE batch of soup - enough for me to live on for a week with extras for my roommate and fiancé.  When company season kicks up, I need to live off of leftovers for days at a time.  Large quantity of tasty leftovers = major win.

Long story short: this recipe comes highly recommended from me.  If you're as big of a soup person as I am, make this and you'll be doing your happy dance in no time.

[By the way, if you need a Dutch oven in which to make this tasty soup - which I highly recommend using - mosey on over to She's Becoming Doughmesstic's Le Creuset giveaway!  She's a great blogger and you might get awesome cookware out of it!]

Pappa al Pomodoro (Tomato and Bread Soup)

Source: adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cups chopped yellow onion

1 large zucchini, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tsp dried basil

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups cubed stale country bread, crusts removed

2-28oz cans crushed Italian tomatoes

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used vegetable)

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 tbsp Kosher salt

1-1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach leaves

Croutons, for serving

Shredded Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.  Add the onions, zucchini, dried basil, and garlic.  Cook for 10 minutes, until tender.  Add the bread cubes and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken or vegetable stock, red wine, salt and pepper.  Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.  Beat the soup with a wire whisk to break up the bread pieces.  Stir in the spinach leaves and allow to wilt.  Serve topped with croutons (I made my own out of the leftover bread) and shredded Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!