Grilled Cheeserie

Nashville seems to have embraced the food truck craze, and I've had the pleasure of eating twice now at the Grilled Cheeserie.  Who doesn't love melted cheese on buttery grilled bread?  The Grilled Cheeserie takes the simple pleasure of a grilled cheese sandwich and improves it by offering several grown-up fillings.  The first visit, my husband had the Croque Madame, and I had a custom sandwich of Gruyere/Swiss blend and Benton's bacon on sourdough.  His sandwich trumped mine that night.  Mine was good, but I decided it needed one more flavor element (perhaps the caramelized onions). 

please excuse the missing bites - melty cheese is irresistible

My second visit, I had the Pizza Melt, and it was amazing.  This sandwich had so many wonderful flavors from the pepperoni (which was in itself unique - do not expect your typical supermarket or pizza pepperoni!) to the fresh basil, spicy marinara and of course, melted Italian blend cheese.  I can't wait to return - I've already picked out the next sandwich I want to try. 

Life of Parm, part 2 - grated

This may be the most obvious, uncreative use, but grating Parmesan onto pasta with nearly any type of sauce (or even no sauce, and just a little olive oil) is truly wonderful.

Life of Parm, part 1 - Welcome

A couple with whom my husband and I are friends had the good fortune to spend some time in Italy this summer, and they brought back several kilos of Parmesan.  Unfortunately, they moved cross country a couple weeks ago, but left us their remaining wedge as a temporary consolation.  Hence, we welcomed "the Parm" into our lives and home.  Isn't it lovely?

I decided to document its slow decline and eventual demise in words and photos over the coming weeks to challenge myself to optimize its use.  I will do my best to create things worth of this gift, although it is difficult to top the delicious simplicity of a chunk of Parm (honey optional for dipping), or perhaps with some prosciutto and bread as accompaniments.