The Potato Salad Grilled Cheese

American cheesed grilled cheese doesn't exist in my kitchen. In fact, I'm not sure that we've ever had the same grilled cheese sandwich. That is, until I decided to enter in the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship. I may have made the same sandwich on at least four different occasions. I had to make sure I had the timing down as I only had 15 minutes during the competition. And, well, they were really tasty.

I will post about my dessert grilled cheese later on, as it was the Best of Show and simply sinful. You'll find out why at a later time. I didn't place in the competition with the Potato Salad Grilled Cheese. My reasoning is that the cheese didn't melt all the way through for the judges. It was very difficult to get all of the cheese to melt because we couldn't use a cover over the frying pan. That was my trick! We had to improvise.

I was inspired to make a potato salad grilled cheese sandwich during work one day. We were making a potato salad with bacon, pesto, mascarpone and some other elements. What intrigued me the most was the pesto. Pesto adds such great flavors and minimizes chopping up all sorts of fresh herbs, if you're in a hurry. I used a store-bought pesto, but if you want to make your own version, please do. The potato comes from the bread. I love potato bread - it's dense and moist with a little bit of sweetness. The texture of the dill pickle is what really sets this sandwich apart. Who can deny a juicy, crisp pickle? Not this girl.

Salivating yet? Sorry, here's the recipe:

Potato Salad Grilled Cheese

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 slices potato bread
• 2-4 tablespoons basil pesto
• 4 slices tomato-basil Farmers cheese
• 4 slices Provolone cheese, plus a few slices for garnish
• 4 dill pickle slices
• 2-4 slices bacon, cooked
• 2 cherry tomatoes, garnish

Directions:

Pre-heat fry pan to medium heat.

Lather two slices of potato bread with basil pesto. Place two slices of Farmers cheese on top of the pesto followed by the bacon, pickle and Provolone cheese. Finish with the second piece of bread. Repeat for second sandwich.

Carefully butter the fry pan only where you will be placing the sandwiches. Place each sandwich down onto the pan. Cover with a lid (this helps the cheese melt faster).

Once the first side is browned and crisp, carefully flip the sandwiches over with a spatula and brown the second side. Re-cover with a lid.

When both sides are crispy and hot - take sandwiches off of the heat, slice in half, top with a speared cherry tomato and curled up piece of cheese. Serve with a big cold glass of milk.