Did you know there's a food holiday every single day of the year? In fact, some days, there are more than one. Some foods even get entire months dedicated to them.
April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, and April 12th is the specific day dedicated to America's favorite toasty, cheesy sandwich. Clearly I had to do something to celebrate...but the question was....how? As a frequent reader of food blogs, I've seen just about everything. Baked potato grilled cheese, buffalo chicken grilled cheese, caprese grilled cheese. Sweet, savory...the list goes on and on.
As I started brainstorming, I wanted to do something that elicits the idea of comfort food, because after all, grilled cheese is right up there with the best of them. When I think of comfort food, I think Thanksgiving. And when I think Thanksgiving, I think of green bean casserole. (And turkey and mashed potatoes and a lot of other things, but definitely green bean casserole.)
In fact, for Thanksgiving last year, I made it my mission to re-create my favorite vegetable side dish using all homemade ingredients. It turned out fabulous. I decided to borrow from that recipe and create green bean casserole grilled cheese. To do this, you'll need some fresh green beans, fresh mushrooms, shallots, and brie. I chose brie because of the earthy, mushroomy taste already present in it, making it perfect to mimic the creaminess of the mushroom soup in the casserole. I also spotted this triple cream "champignon" brie in the grocery store, so it actually had little chunks of mushrooms IN the cheese. It was a match made in grilled cheese heaven.
I decided to shave the green beans into ribbons with a vegetable peeler. Why? I dunno. I thought it would be pretty and they would blend better with the melted cheese. (And I was right!) Saute a little garlic in some olive oil and toss in the green bean ribbons and let them cook for about a minute or two. (You still want them to be slightly crunchy in the sandwich).
Saute the mushrooms and fry the shallots. (For detailed step-by-step instructions on the shallots, follow the green bean casserole post). Now you're ready to assemble the sandwiches.
I decided to make sliders because I love sliders and anything mini. But I also thought the idea of creating these on a dinner roll-sized sandwich also reminded me of Thanksgiving. I always prefer to make my turkey sandwiches on the leftover dinner rolls for some reason. In fact, I may have made a turkey and green been casserole sandwich at some point during my childhood. It was no doubt fabulous.
But I digress.
Butter your slider buns or dinner rolls on the outside and stack your ingredients. Just for good measure, I included two layers of cheese. Because really, you can't have too much cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich.
Grill on medium-low heat until bread is toasty and cheese is fully melted and oozing all over the place. Serve immediately and then repeat the entire process again because you're going to want more.
And you know what would be even more amazing than green bean casserole grilled cheese sliders? Green bean casserole grilled cheese sliders DIPPED in little cups of cream of mushroom soup. How cute would that be for a Thanksgiving appetizer?!?!? (Or an any occasion appetizer for that matter?) Excuse me while I go make some more.
UPDATE! These won bronze in the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Recipe Contest. Click here to check it out!
by Jaymee Sire
Keywords: grill saute appetizer entree green beans mushroom shallot cheese
- Big handful of fresh green beans
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
- 4-5 brown crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large shallot, sliced
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
- salt & pepper, to taste
- safflower oil (for frying)
- 2-3 ounces brie, sliced (champignon brie is yummy!)
- 4 slider buns or dinner rolls
- 1-2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- Using a vegetable peeler, shave the green beans into thin ribbons until you have about a cup of them.
- Heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic until soft, add green bean ribbons and cook for another minute or two. Remove from pan and season with salt and pepper. (You want the beans to still be slightly crunchy).
- Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute mushrooms until they are brown and softened. Season with salt and pepper.
- While mushrooms are cooking, soak sliced shallots in milk for a few minutes. Drain and place in a plastic Ziplock bag. Pour in flour and season with salt and pepper. Shake until well coated.
- Heat Safflower oil (or other oil with high smoke point) until very hot. Fry shallots until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
- Butter the outsides of rolls and divide ingredients evenly among four slider buns. (I went in this order: beans, cheese, mushrooms, crispy shallots, more cheese). Fry over medium-low heat on both sides until bread is toasty and cheese is melted. Serve hot!
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Labels: Brie, champignon brie, comfort food, fried shallots, green bean casserole, grilled cheese, mini, mushrooms, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, sliders, Thanksgiving
