Recipe
Pizza Margherita Grilled Cheese
Everything you love about pizza, folded into a sandwich that cooks in one skillet. Fire-roasted tomatoes make a quick from-scratch sauce while the mozzarella does the stretchy work. Thirty minutes and mostly pantry ingredients stand between you and this.
Ingredients
- 4 cupbasil leaves
- 12 tablespoonsbutter, melted
- 58 ouncesfire-roasted canned tomatoes
- 64 ouncesfresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 41 large garlic clove, minced
- 4 teaspoonolive oil
- ¼ teaspoons salt¼ teaspoons salt
- 32 slicessourdough bread
- 4 tablespoonsugar
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil and garlic over a medium heat.
- Saute until softened, about 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes, salt and sugar. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. Set aside.
- Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle to a medium heat.
- Spread about 2 tablespoons of sauce on each slice of bread. Top with four ounces of slices of cheese. Top with 4-5 leaves of basil.
- Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place top of bread, sauce side down on cheese and basil.
- Brush tops with butter. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Place sandwich butter side down in heated skillet (work in batched if needed), brush other side with butter. Cook until golden brown and crispy on each side and the cheese is melted. (If you are having a hard time getting the cheese to melt, pop into a 350 degree oven for a few minutes.
Cook's notes
- Press the sandwich gently with a spatula as it cooks for even browning.
- If the cheese is not melting before the bread darkens, cover the pan for 30 seconds to trap the heat.
- The sauce batch is worth doubling — it refrigerates and turns leftover lunches into pizza-ish anything.
Recipe questions
- What bread works best?
- Sourdough is ideal — sturdy enough to hold the sauce and it toasts beautifully. Ciabatta and good country bread are close seconds.
- Is this vegetarian?
- Yes — this is a meat-free meal as written. Add pepperoni slices or prosciutto under the cheese if you want the pizza swap.
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