Today I have some exciting news to share but first you must know something about me. I was, and will always be, a Grilled Cheese kid. From age 2 to about age 15 I would order nothing but grilled cheese. It didn’t matter if we were at a seafood restaurant – I would order a grilled cheese. When I turned 15, I branched out a bit and started order grilled cheese with some extra goodness on them. But that’s enough about me… today is April 1st… which can only mean 1 thing. National Grilled Cheese Month has officially started!!! I know, you are thinking, wait what? There is a whole month dedicated to Grilled Cheese Sandwiches to which I would reply – HECK YES!!! Its the second best month of the year, right after June which is my birthday month!
The next 30 days are all about grilled cheese! Various restaurants around Los Angeles feature different Grilled Cheese Sammys during the month and you can bet that I will be visiting as many of them as humanly possible! To kick off this awesome celebration I made one of my all time favorite grilled cheese sammys! Its a Smoky BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese with boat loads of fresh buffalo mozzarella and its served with fresh ciabatta bread. I mean seriously, could it get much better than that?
Smoky BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and reduce by at least half until the sauce has thickened. Remove from pan and package in a air tight container and use as needed.
Smoky BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and reduce by at least half until the sauce has thickened. Remove from pan and package in a air tight container and use as needed.
Grilled cheese MONTH?!? Sign me up!! I was the same – ordered grilled cheese EVERYWHERE. I just made one on Monday night, too. I could eat it everyday!
And to think I thought you were a noodle girl. This sounds so yummy I might have to buy a panini press.
I was just thinking about making a fancy grilled cheese soon! I will have to start with this recipe and experiment from there!
Yum! We just got some fancy schmancy cheese from Costco. Didn’t even THINK of fancy grilled cheese! Thanks!
Grilled cheese has become one of my go to dinners, coupled with soup, when I get home late from work. I have been making plain old boring grilled cheese. This is inspiring me to spice it up a little and get some variety in there. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
Oh no, if I tell Josh it is grilled cheese month he will seriously eat one every day! I guess it could be fun, but not good for his cholesterol:) Ha! Great looking sandwich!
oh my goodness… this looks delish!
mmmmmm i want one for lunch!
Wow! And I thought April was just all about rain showers. Knowing it’s National Grilled Cheese month definitely bumps it up for me!
National Grilled Cheese month! Maybe they will have a stand at the farmers market!!
I was hoping you made your own BBQ sauce, and of course you did! I posted my egg battered version a few weeks ago. One fun thing about being pregnant….tons of grilled cheese. The baby needed it right?
i am SO DOWN for a grilled cheese month…YUM! and what a way to kick it off 🙂 can’t wait to see even more amazing recipes!
I absolutely love the idea of a smoky grilled cheese! You were the one who first let me know about all the grilled cheese events in LA last year – I’m really, really hoping to make it to Clementine if I can!
P.S. You should definitely enter this into my 2nd Annual Grilled Cheese Pageant (I just opened up the entries!).
Wow, that looks like my dream sandwich! All of the flavors are perfect but when you add fresh mozzarella cheese to the mix – well, I’m sold! Delicious (and your photography is just amazing!).
Love that you’ve included a DIY BBQ sauce. This looks absolutely yum-o-licous. Can’t wait to try!
Yum! Have you submitted this to the Grilled Cheese Academy yet? http://www.grilledcheeseacademy.com/submitrecipe
Hi Gaby! LOVE these versions of grilled cheese. Believe it or not I am hosting a grilled cheese round up. Please submit any of your fab links, as many as you want 🙂 http://su.pr/1R06Od
by the way….the photo is mission in this post