Swiss Grilled Cheese, Without the Swiss Cheese

Swiss Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese or hot pocket?

Hey, I haven’t yet reached a level of enlightenment needed to determine the answer to all life’s questions. Nevertheless, this “sandwich” was gooey and crispy and hot. And while I may not be smart enough to know its scientific name, at least my taste buds know a good thing when they sense it.

But what, exactly, was in this mystery creation? Find out after the jump…

CHEESE! duh

But not just any cheese. Gansie and I used some leftover cheese from our pseudo-Valentine’s Day dinner a couple of days earlier. So I guess you will need some background on that meal. We hate going out for V-day; overpriced meals, horribly tacky themes, pink drinks, and crowded rooms filled with gullible patrons. So what did we do instead? Well we spent 100 bucks at Whole Foods on a equally tacky homemade fondue meal. Pretty hypocritical if you ask me. But at least we had the place to ourselves.

Even though we read up on all these crazy fondue recipes, once it came time to eat, we decided to not stress and go with a classic Swiss fondue recipe. This feast involved traditional cheeses like Gruyere and Emmenthal and liquors like Kirschwasser. The night was great, but having bought so much of everything, we ended up with a kitchen full of cheese. Something had to be done.

So a couple of nights later Gansie has the freaking brilliant idea to use a package of crescent rolls as the bread and make grilled cheese sandwiches. Miraculously, we hadn’t yet snacked through (is that a verb?) the rest of the fondue cheese.

Shredded Gruyere and Emmenthal

After grating the rest of the Gruyere and Emmenthal, pictured above, we unrolled one tube of the crescent rolls. On her sandwich, Gansie spread Dijon mustard, then cheese mixture, and salt and pepper. I did them same, but brushed on some of Kirschwasser, which is really a cherry-flavored brandy. I thought the liquor added a great taste, though I wouldn’t recommend slathering it on.

Swiss Grilled Cheese Uncooked

After putting the halves together, make sure you take a fork and press down on all the edges to lock in the goodness, like so:

Swiss Grilled Cheese Uncooked 2

After about 10 minutes in the oven, you end up with the golden sandwich/hot pocket shown on the first picture. What really amazed me was just how well the crescent rolls held up. We filled them with greasy cheese, and while some oil leaked out when cooking, only the bottom was a little bit undercooked. I’m already dreaming of other creations that you could put inside. Maybe I need to go to the Hot Pocket aisle and do some research…

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8 comments

  • BS March 5, 2008  

    hot stuff! This is a brilliant idea. I am unfamiliar with emmenthal – what’s it like?

  • gansie March 5, 2008  

    and before anyone calls me out – i know this is cheating.

    emmenthal is kinda like swiss? JH – any help?

  • SAG March 5, 2008  

    This looks very good…What ever happened to the Fondue post? Did I miss that one?

  • Jeb March 5, 2008  

    damn, that looks good. I should have taken pictures the other night of my homemade ground turkey lettuce wraps.

  • JoeHoya March 6, 2008  

    Emmenthal (or emmenthaler) isn’t so much kinda like Swiss as it is what Swiss is supposed to be.

    It’s the original cheese from Switzerland that most American cheesemakers are emulating when they make their version. It’s usually a pale yellow and has big holes throughout it. The taste is generally nutty with a little bit of a dry/sharp note at the end.

    The name is not protected, so you can get Emmentaler cheese from all over the world.

  • pinch o minch's friend March 6, 2008  

    next time you’re in the mood for melty cheese, try raclette – it’s a french thing, they heat up the whole round of cheese then scrape it onto your plate. you scoop up the melty goodness with potatoes, veggies, meat, bread, whatever you’ve got. it’s insanity.

  • Yvo March 7, 2008  

    Yowch, my heart is seizing but damn, raclette sounds delish.

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