Pesto Grilled Cheese. <sigh>
So my son came back from a recent trip to visit his girlfriend in Utah, and mentioned that he’d had a grilled cheese with pesto.
“Mom, can we make pesto?”
Duh. Thrive Life has freeze dried basil, and why have I not tried that before and why am I drooling right now typing this?
Cuz I stinkin’ love basil, that’s why.
So, shaking my head in wonder as to why I’d never thought to make homemade pesto before, I pulled out my phone and searched the Thrive Life recipe site because I just knew our Chef Todd had a recipe for it. He did. Yay!
I told my son he could make it. (You gotta make them do the things, right?)
IT. WAS. AMAZING.
So of course, I have to share it with you! The pesto is exactly the same as Chef Todd’s recipe, we just smeared it on our grilled cheese. We’ve used Gouda, Provolone, Cheddar, and Colby Jack so far. My fave is Cheddar. Experiment with your fave cheeses and let me know which turned out best for you!
- 1/4 c. pine nuts
- 1/4 c. Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
- 2 tbsp. water
- 1/4 c. THRIVE Basil
- 1 tbsp. THRIVE Parsley
- 1/4 tsp. Salt, Table
- 1/8 tsp. THRIVE Peppercorn
- 1/4 c. really good olive oil
- The Sandwich
- 8 sli. bread of your choice
- 16 sli. cheese of your choice (thin sliced is what we used)
- 8 tbsp. butter
- Using a food processor, pulse together the pine nuts, parmesan, and garlic until well-combined. Add in water, herbs, and salt & peppercorn and pulse again until combined.
- Add in the olive oil slowly through the chute while the processor is running. Once combined, remove pesto to a bowl and stir by hand to incorporate all the oil.
- Heat a griddle or skillet to medium heat.
- Butter one side of each slice of bread. Have your pesto and cheese slices at the ready.
- When cook surface is at temperature, place one slice of bread (butter side down) on the griddle, add 2 slices of cheese and spread a heaping tablespoon of pesto over the cheese. Top with a slice of bread, butter side up.
- Cook on both sides until golden brown. Enjoy!
- Make up the pesto and keep it in the fridge. Then you can have a pesto grilled cheese anytime you want!
- I like my pesto with just a little more salt than Chef Todd's recipe. Adjust according to your tastes.
- We've tried Cheddar, Colby Jack, Gouda, and Provolone in these. I think Cheddar is my favorite!
- We actually used our George Foreman grill for this at home. An advantage to using this, if you have one, is that you can use much thicker bread and it will compress. We were able to use up some thick sandwich rolls this way!
- Really good olive oil? I use a Picual from Beaufort Olive Oil Company. It makes a difference, in my opinion. But use what you have.