#19 Redneck with Money Grilled Cheese

I was reading the New York Times "100 ideas to grill" list. One of them was a "grilled" grilled cheese with an artisan bread and "good quality cheese." I set out then to the Cooper Young Farmer's Market on Saturday to get some artisan bread and my usual local produce. While browsing, I got to thinking. I like fancy cheese but for a grilled cheese, my favorite will always be...don't judge...Velveeta. Yes, that's right. And when I think Velveeta, I can't help but think Rotel. So this is how this sort of upscale trailer park sandwich was born.

While at the Cooper Young Market, I picked up some roma tomatoes and mild peppers (that would be the "rotel" part of this sandwich)

and some of my favorite potatoes from Downing Hollow Farms...more on the potatoes later. And also got a watermelon to round out the meal. We'll start with the sandwich part:

Red Neck with Money Grilled Cheese Yield 3 sandwiches
1 "artisan" loaf of bread, I picked up Ciabatta from Sweet Grass
2 medium roma tomatoes, diced and blotted dry with paper towel
3 - 4 small mild peppers, diced (or hot ones if you like a kick)
1 T melted butter
1 bag of shredded Velveeta, or the block style would be fine and maybe even easier

Cut the bread into sandwich slices and butter the outside (or inside too if you want).

Heat grill to about 350. Put the buttered crust side down on the grate and then load up the facing bread with the cheese, peppers and tomatoes.


Close lid but stay with it, this won't take long and you don't want the bread to burn--the butter and cheese will cause some flare ups. When cheese just starts to melt, move them to top rack of grill. Let melt almost thoroughly then remove from grill. Using clean dish towel, cover the sandwich and then press down flat with your hands. Let the sandwich rest about 5 minutes before serving so the cheese can firm up a bit. Oh my was this good.



Now for the potatoes. This is a Nigella Lawson recipe I've been doing for ages. Yield: 4 generous servings
2 lbs of potatoes, 1/2" dice (the Downing Hill Farms ones might have been a combination of fingerling, red and yukon golds. I couldn't really tell but they were sooo good.)
1 T or so of olive oil, I use the bare minimum of oil
1 whole bulb of garlic, cloves removed but paper on the cloves in tact
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425. Local potatoes are dirty, so wash them really-really well. (This is because see, they aren't run through a factory a hundred times. It's earth to farmer's market around here.)



Cut them in the 1/2" dice, leave skins on.

Put in a big roasting pan. Put in the garlic cloves (paper on), sea salt, pepper and olive oil in the pan with the potatoes and toss to coat.



Roast for an hour or so tossing every 20 minutes till golden. The garlic roasts skin on with the potatoes and it's fun to squirt the skins open and get that yummy roasted garlic goodness when you eat this dish.

So here, we rounded out the meal with some watermelon cutely cut with my little mini-ice cream scoop and it was a sensational meal. I think even the New York Times would agree.