A Fancy Grilled Cheese

This is such a simple recipe. Only four ingredients. So good. So "adult". It's perfect for finger sandwiches. It's perfect for baby showers and wedding showers. It's perfect for Superbowl Sunday. It's perfect for Moms at your kid's birthday party when they are sick of hot dogs, burgers, and pizza. Or book club with a glass of wine. And it's a perfect lunch on a hot, hazy, Saturday afternoon. Like today.

First, you get a nice, crusty bakery bread.

French. Italian. Seeds. No seeds. Long. Short. Fat. Skinny. It doesn't matter. Just make sure it's fresh and crusty on the outside, doughy on the inside.

Slice it open.

Don't scoop out the doughy wonderfulness. I never understood why my Grandmother and Mother did that with their sandwiches and bagels. That's the best part! They would scoop that out and I would grab it and pop it in my mouth.

Take some Brie Cheese and spread it all over the top half. A lot of it.

Soft, gooey, wonderful cheese.Next, take a couple of teaspoons of this:
Spread this Raspberry Jam all over the bottom half.Then, comes the ham.Just any old Deli ham will do. I used Black Forest Deli Ham. Don't put too much ham. A nice thin layer will do just fine.Close it up. Look at that. Looks good already. Wrap it up in foil.

And do this:

Believe it or not, the sandwich is under that. It's a heavy, big ole' brick in a pan and it's pressing the sandwich down on the BBQ grill. It's a redneck version of a Panini Grill. By all means, if you have a Panini Grill then use that. But I use my BBQ grill with that brick on top.

Let it grill for about 10 minutes. Maybe even less. Just enough to get the cheese and jam all melted and mingled around that ham.

When you are done, slice it. And you'll have this:

Pure perfection. It's a grilled cheese, really. But a grilled cheese unlike anything you've had before. It's been fancified. This isn't the grilled cheese you grew up with. It's sweet. It's salty. It's smokey. It's crusty. It's doughy. It's ooey and gooey. It's perfect.