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Kimchi grilled cheese

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serves 2.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 slices of your favorite bread (I used wheat)
  • 2 tbsp butter, softened (or enough to thinly butter one side of each slice)
  • 4 slices American cheese (or your favorite meltable cheese — I think pepperjack, cheddar, Colby, provolone, etc. would all work well. Also, of course you can add more cheese! I support the right to limitless cheese.)
  • 3/4 to 1 cup kimchi, drained, patted dry, and chopped

Instructions

  1. Butter one side of each slice of bread, taking care to spread the butter to the very edges. (The very first time I tried to make a grilled cheese, sometime way back in high school, I didn’t do this and left a very clean black outline of a piece of toast in our frying pan. I’m not sure my mom ever got it off.) Note: You can also melt the butter directly into the skillet and then fry the bread in it, which is handy especially if you’re like me and tend to forget to soften the butter beforehand.
  2. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat, then place two slices of bread butter-side down. (If you’d like to go the melted-butter route, add about 1 tbsp of the butter, swirl it until melted, then add the bread.)  Next, add one slice of cheese to each slice of bread. Layer kimchi over the cheese, then add a second slice to each.
  3. Let the bread fry on the skillet until golden-brown and the cheese begins to melt on top. Depending on your skillet, you may want to lower the heat to low to prevent burning (is there anything as sad as a burned grilled cheese?) Add the uncooked slices of bread, buttered-side up, to complete the sandwiches, then gently flip the sandwiches to their uncooked sides. (If they’re not buttered, add the uncooked slices, remove from the pan, add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter to the pan to melt, then add the sandwiches back to the pan, uncooked side down.)
  4. Continue to let cook in the pan for a minute or so longer, until the uncooked sides are golden-brown. I like to press down gently on the sandwich to get the cheese to really squish together. Remove and let cool, then slice and serve!

Notes

Some people recommend panfrying the kimchi on its own to get it warmed up and add some crispy bits, as well as avoiding sogginess — I love this if I have a little extra time. If you’re feeling really decadent you can pan-fry in butter and then your mind will be really blown.

Find it online: https://tworedbowls.com/2013/08/22/kimchi-grilled-cheese/