Broccoli and Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwich

It wasn’t too long ago when I served up a fish fry, including the fried smelt, for the family. The fish fry had all of the fixings including some nice french fries, and a salted caraway bread. I love me some nice salted, caraway bread, but with that said, I had about half a loaf left over, and I knew that I did not want it to go to waste, that along with some leftover, slow cooked chicken. It’s funny how I come up with some of these recipe ideas, and I blame leftovers for the most part, and I wanted to try some cheddar I had recently purchased from Clock Shadow Creamery in Milwaukee.  So as I normally do, I navigated through the pantry and refrigerator and saw that I also had a head of broccoli, and that’s when it all came together, to make an awesome sandwich.

So I had the ingredients and that is when thoughts of my loaded broccoli and cheese potato skins came into play, well, that and the restaurant that was in one of our local malls when growing up, I think it was called 1 Potato 2 or something like that where they loaded up roasted baked potatoes. I mean who doesn’t love the combination of broccoli and cheese, right?

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 inch thick slices of salted caraway bread
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 slices American cheese, cut in half
• 1/2 cup of Medium cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup of cooked, roasted chicken, torn
• small bowl of iced water
• pinch of salt

Begin by preparing all of your ingredients.

Add the broccoli florets into a large pot of boiling water, and cook for a few minutes. Once they are just tender, remove them and place them into the iced water to stop them from cooking, while at the same time retaining that great green color.

Pour out the hot broccoli water, as well as drain the cooled broccoli. Return the pot back to the stove, and place on low heat. Add in the torn chicken, the broccoli, and the cheddar cheese. Add just about a tablespoon of water just to steam and warm through that chicken while warming the cheese as well.

Heat a large skillet on medium to medium low heat. Butter the top side of each slice of bread. Add one slice of bread, butter side down, onto the skillet. Top that with one slice of American cheese. I cut the slice in half so it fits better onto the bread.

Spoon out the broccoli, cheese, and chicken mixture, and carefully add that onto the American cheese. Top that with another slice of American cheese, then top with the other slice of bread, butter side up.

Heat each side, until nice and golden. Once golden, carefully flip with a large spatula, and cook the remaining side until that is nice and golden, about 4 minutes or so per side.

I use a cast iron bacon weight on the second side, just to get everything nice and melted. I will leave that up to you if you want to go that route.

Remove, slice and serve. My wife and I totally fell in love with this sandwich. It is everything you want in an awesome broccoli and cheese pairing, and well, let’s just say that little bit of chicken and caraway bread really make it even better. I hope you enjoy.

Broccoli and Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Dax Phillips

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 8 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 18 minutes mins

Course Sandwiches

Cuisine American

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 2 1/2 inch thick slices of salted caraway bread
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small head of broccoli cut into florets
• 2 slices American cheese cut in half
• 1/2 cup of Medium cheddar cheese grated
• 1/2 cup of cooked roasted chicken, torn
• small bowl of iced water
• pinch of salt

Instructions

 

• Begin by preparing all of your ingredients.
• Add the broccoli florets into a large pot of boiling water, and cook for a few minutes. Once they are just tender, remove them and place them into the iced water to stop them from cooking, while at the same time retaining that great green color.
• Pour out the hot broccoli water, as well as drain the cooled broccoli. Return the pot back to the stove, and place on low heat. Add in the torn chicken, the broccoli, and the cheddar cheese. Add just about a tablespoon of water just to steam and warm through that chicken while warming the cheese as well.
• Heat a large skillet on medium to medium low heat. Butter the top side of each slice of bread. Add one slice of bread, butter side down, onto the skillet. Top that with one slice of American cheese. I cut the slice in half so it fits better onto the bread.
• Spoon out the broccoli, cheese, and chicken mixture, and carefully add that onto the American cheese. Top that with another slice of American cheese, then top with the other slice of bread, butter side up.
• Heat each side, until nice and golden. Once golden, carefully flip with a large spatula, and cook the remaining side until that is nice and golden, about 4 minutes or so per side.
• I use a cast iron bacon weight on the second side, just to get everything nice and melted. I will leave that up to you if you want to go that route.
• Remove, slice and serve. My wife and I totally fell in love with this sandwich. It is everything you want in an awesome broccoli and cheese pairing, and well, let's just say that little bit of chicken and caraway bread really make it even better. I hope you enjoy.