Beth's Grilled Cheese & Soup Recipes: Full Menu (Sandwiches Mozzarella Cheddar Brie) || Kin Eats

Hey guys I'm back this week with another entertaining menu for you. And you'll be
happy to know, we've gone back to the old format. So thank you so much for all your
comments, it was great to hear that so many of you like the long format better, personally
truth be told, I like it better too.
I also have to say, I've been having so much fun with this entertaining menu, that
I thought wouldn't it be fun to invite the other Kin Community cooks to come and join
the party. So I'm going to take a break, for the next couple of weeks and your going
to be treated to some other really great menus. Next week we have Whitney who's gong to
be sharing her drinks and appetizer party. I've seen some of these recipes and they
look amazing, so you are in for a real treat. Then we're going to have Kelly, who is going
to share her family friendly Italian meal which also looks delicious, after that we're
going to have Liesl, who is going to share with us her favorite fall menu. But not to
worry, I will be back, especially as we get towards the holidays, I have some awesome
menus that I want to share with you as we get into the entertaining season. So without
further adieu, I'm going to show you how to make a fabulous Grilled Cheese Party with
homemade soup.
Now I'm going to give you 4 Grilled Cheese and soup pairings, now I don't expect you
to make them all, in fact I think to make them all for one party would be a bit too
much, but that way you'll see 4 different options and you can pick your favorites and
make the ones that look best for you.
First up a kid's grilled cheese with mozzarella and cheddar served with Apple slices, and
then we're making smoky cheddar and bacon grilled cheese with a spicy corn chowder,
and then I'll show you how to make my roasted tomato and fennel soup which is the perfect
compliment to a mozzarella and pesto grilled cheese, then it's ham and Swiss with a spicy
Dijon mustard, served alongside a comforting potato and leek soup. And finally for a touch
of sweet and savory it's a grilled brie and pear sandwich. Served alongside a back-to-basics
butternut squash soup.
Grilled cheese sandwiches have been a mainstay in my life since I was a kid. My mother who
came from a very traditional Irish-American family, married my Dad who came from a fun
loving Italian-American family. And I love the pictures from their wedding because you
can definitely see the different personalities at play from both sides of the family. But
thing that they did share in common is the fact that they were each one of 5 children.
So that meant my brother, sister and I had a ton of cousins growing up. And every time
all of us kids got together there was one thing that the parents could count on that
everybody would also eat, and that was a grilled cheese sandwich. As I grew older I still love
grilled cheese sandwiches, but I got more adventuresome in the fillings. And I love
to throw grilled cheese parties because the kids love them, what kid won't eat a grilled
cheese sandwich, and the adults love them, too because it makes them feel like a kid
again.
If you have kids that are older, or a little bit adventuresome, they may eat all the adult
food and that's great, but if your kids are like mine, and picky, they like things
"plain Jane", I like to take care of them first. So my basic grilled cheese sandwich
that my girls will always eat involves cheddar cheese and mozzarella and they like that combination
because when it's cooked they see the different color cheeses and its kind of fun for them.
Take a piece of whole wheat bread, butter both sides with melted butter, place it on
a griddle, now if you don't have a griddle and you want to have a grilled cheese party,
I highly recommend it, and you can get some really inexpensive ones, usually at like Target.
And it just helps to have 1 pan where you can make a big batch and not have to make
like 20 sandwiches, that would just take forever.
On one side of the bread you're going to put a piece of mozzarella cheese and on the
other side you're going to put a piece of cheddar. Once the cheese starts to melt a
little bit, you are going to turn them into a sandwich, both sides on top of each other
grill both sides, and when it's done, I like to cut it into triangles. My girls get
a big sense of pride when they can finish their plates , so I like to make the servings
really small and management to help them. And all you do is take a chef knife and make
a big X in the center, and that will create 4 equal triangles.
I would then lay them all out on a platter and in the center serve some sliced apples.
And that way you know the kids are being taking care of, grilled cheese and apples, what kid
wouldn't eat that, and then you'll be good to go.
Now on to the more grown-up varieties, I'm going to start with a Tex-Mex flavor profile.
We are going to do a Smokey, cheddar grilled cheese with bacon, paired with a spicy corn
chowder. Now I love this flavor combination because you have the smokiness of the bacon
and the sweet creaminess of the corn with a little bit of a kick. You are going to start
with some sourdough bread, you are going to brush each side with some melted butter. To
that you are going to add some cheddar cheese to eat slice, some crumbled bacon, already
cooked, you can just chop it up, and then some smoked paprika. Now smoked paprika and
regular paprika are not the same thing. So make sure you get smoked paprika its going
to give you a really nice smokiness. Grill both sides until golden brown, and once they
are done I like to cut these into smaller portions, just because for a party like this
you kind of want everybody to try a little bit and if you cut them into smaller pieces,
people won't feel as bad taking all these big sandwiches that they may not finish. So
the way to do that is just take a chef's knife and literally cut a V in the sandwich
and that will give you 3 equal triangles.
Now for the soup. You are going to start by sautéing some white onions in about 2 tablespoons
of butter. You want to make sure that onion is very fragrant and soft. Then you want to
a bag of frozen corn. I really love this recipe because the frozen corn is so easy and simple.
If you wanted to use fresh corn you could but the frozen corn is going to taste just
as good. Then you are going to add 1 russet potato. The potato is going to add a nice
creaminess to the soup without having to add a lot of heavy cream. Then are going to add
about 2-3 cups of vegetable stock, now you could use chicken stock, but I kind of like,
if I'm serving a vegetable soup, to make it vegetarian, just so that if you have vegetarian
friends they can have some too.
You are going to let the soup simmer just until fork tender. When that's done, you
just want to puree the soup in batches, and the reason you want to do that, even if all
the soup will fit in your blender, is because it's going to make it creamier and finely
pureed, if you don't have the blender full when you go to puree it.
Have the soup cooled a bit before you put it in the blender, but if it is still warm
just put a dish towel on top of the blender before
you hit puree, that way if the soup splatters you are not going to burn yourself.
Once your soup is pureed, you want to take your soup, pour it back into the pot, and
then season it with a little salt and pepper and about ? cup of whole milk. While the soup
is simmering you are going to bake your tortillas. Now I like to have a mix of white corn tortillas
and blue corn tortillas, just because I think they look pretty, they taste basically the
same, but it's just for the presentation. Take a stack of three, of each and then cut
them in half, and then cut them into 2 in strips. You are going to take the tortillas
and turn them out onto a rimmed baking sheet, just in a single layer and bake at 350 for
about 15 mins. Just until they are light and crispy and golden brown.
To serve this soup, place in your favorite soup bowl, top with a little bit of hot sauce,
a little cilantro and your baked tortilla strips. You'll see that this soup is very,
very pretty, it's delicious it has a great kick to it, a nice crunch with the tortillas
and it's the perfect compliment to the Smokey grilled cheeses.
For our next combo, we are going to head to Italy for a mozzarella and pesto grilled cheese
with a roasted tomato and fennel soup. This is a great idea for any vegetarians that may
be coming to your party, because it's all vegetable based.
The first step with these sandwiches is to make your pesto sauce. Now you certainly could
use pesto from a store, that would be perfectly fine, but because pesto is so easy to make,
and takes so much better in my opinion, when you make it yourself, I like to take the effort
and make it myself. And here's how you do it.
Take some fresh basil leaves, add some garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper, pulse that up
just until it's all chopped up and incorporated. Then you are slowly going to add your olive
oil while the machine is running, and you'll see a paste will form. That's what you want,
and depending on how oily you like your pesto, you want to keep adding more oil. I think
about ? cup is a good amount. Once it's done you want to remove it from the food processor
and stir in your cheese. And that's it. Homemade pesto in minutes. How easy was that?
To assemble the sandwiches you are going to take some olive bread, lightly brush melted
butter on each side. On the other side you are going to add your homemade pesto. To that
add some mozzarella cheese. One piece to each slice of bread, some sliced sundried tomatoes
and grill it 2-3 mins on each side just until the cheese is melted. Once it's done, again
cut it into triangles and you are good to go.
This time of year tomatoes are sort of on their last legs so they need a little bit
of a boast, in the form of something sweet like fennel. Slice 8 roma tomatoes in half,
put them on a sheet pan, and to that add 2 bulbs of fennel, just sliced into wedges.
You are also going to add some peeled garlic. Toss the whole thing with olive oil, salt
and pepper and herbs de provence. Pop them in the oven, at a very high heat, about 450
degrees for about 20-25 mins. While your vegetables are in the oven, take out a large soup pot,
melt about 2 tablespoons of butter, and add some white onion, some carrots, and some celery.
Sautee the vegetables until they start to get really fragrant and soft. Then once your
vegetables are done from the oven, you want to take the whole sheet pan and pour it all
into the stock pot, juices and all. To that you are going to add some tomato paste, some
vegetable stock, 1 fresh bay leaf, if you can't find fresh dried will work just as
well, and a few sprigs of thyme. You are going to let that simmer just for about 10-15 mins.
Once the soup ids done you want to fish out the bay leaf, and the thyme and then puree
the soup in batches. Return it back to the stock pot. Add a little bit of salt and pepper,
and just simmer it just6 until thickened. Now at this point if your soup is too think,
you could add some more vegetable stock just to think it out.
To serve ladle out the soup in a soup bowl, drizzle with olive oil and top with some freshly
chopped thyme.
It's a great flavor combination with the olive bread and the mozzarella and fresh pesto,
really wonderful Italian flavors.
For our next grilled cheese pairing we are going to head to France, for a sandwich that
my husband loves. It's a grilled ham and cheese with Dijon mustard, served with a comforting
potato and leek soup. To assemble the sandwich you are going to start with some French bread.
Now not a baguette, you actually want to look for a French loaf. And have your grocery store
slice it for you into sandwich slices, many grocery stores offer this service now and
I think it's great. Take the bread and brush it on either side with some melted butter.
Then you are going to add Dijon mustard. If you can find the Dijon mustard that's whole
grain, I think that's a really great texture to add to something like this. But if you
can't find whole grain, real Dijon would work too. Add 2 slices of Swiss cheese and
then some ham, grill on each side just until golden brown and then pop off the griddle
and cut into triangles, and that's it.
You are going to start the soup by melting some butter in a stock pot. To that you are
going to add a white onion, some celery, some leeks, but just the white parts, not the green
parts, and garlic. Sautee those up just until they are fragrant and tender. . To that you
are going to add some russet potatoes just peeled and chopped and about 2-3 cups of vegetable
stock just until all the vegetables are covered. You want to let that simmer 10-15 mins just
until the potatoes are really soft. Once your soup is done you want tom puree it in batches
just until nice and smooth. Pour it back into the pot and season with salt and pepper, and
that's it.
To serve you want to ladle into some soup bowls and garnish with freshly chopped chives.
This soup is a great compliment to the sandwich, because the sandwich has a lot of bold flavors
in it. You've got the strong Swiss cheese and the spiciness of the mustard, and the
soup has such a warm comforting flavor that it really works as a great backdrop.
Now for something sweet and savory, my pear and brie grilled cheese on raisin walnut bread
served with a butternut squash soup. I love this combination because it reminds me of
my friend Lori would always serve warm brie and pears as an appetizer. In fact , I love
that at her wedding they served brie and pear quesadillas it was a big hit. So I thought
this might be fun for a grilled cheese sandwich.
So to make this grilled cheese sandwich you want to start with some raisin walnut bread,
butter it lightly on either side add one slice of brie. Now you don't want to over do it
with the brie because it's pretty rich, so one slice will do the trick. Add some sliced
pears and then grill on either side until golden brown and the brie starts to melt.
Cut it into triangles and that's it.
Now for the soup. I call this my back-to-basics butternut squash soup. The reason being that
I feel like in the last couple of years people have done some really weird things to butternut
squash soup, adding fruit, adding curry, adding all kinds of spices. And really it's such
a great vegetable it doesn't need much. I think less is more in this situation. So
all I do is sauté up some onion and some celery in a soup pot to that you're going
to add some fresh butternut squash, and then some vegetable stock . Just enough to cover
all the vegetables and simmer just for about 15 mins until everything is fork tender. Puree
the soup in batches just until really smooth and velvety. And place it back into your soup
pot and add a little bit of salt and pepper. Ladle it out into some soup bowls and then
I like to garnish it with just a few chopped pecans. I feel like it's nice to have just
a little bit of crunch, and that's it.
This soup is a great compliment to the pear and brie sandwiches, it's a unique flavor
combination that I think is unexpected that your guests will love, it's definitely a
combination I would consider adding to your party. For something like this chocolate chip
cookies would
Anytime I'm entertaining and I have a bunch of kids and a bunch of grown ups I want to
do a dessert that will please everybody. And certainly for something like this, chocolate
chip cookies would be a great idea but I wanted to do something a bit more sophisticated,
a little fancier to kick it up a notch.
So a few weeks ago I tested this recipe where I took my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe
and put it into a tart pan added some chopped hazelnuts, baked it and as soon as I tasted
it my first reaction was Oh My Gosh, that is ridiculous, that was so good! It almost
tastes like nutella because you have the chocolate and the hazelnut and the combination together
just makes for such a great dessert. So here's how you make it.
The first thing you want to do is toast your hazelnuts, pour them out on a baking sheet
until they create a single layer. Pop them in the oven for 5-7 minutes, just until their
skins start to break apart and you'll smell them. Once they are done, pour them out onto
a dish towel. If you have a terry cloth dish towel, that actually works the best. What
you are trying to do is steam the skins off them. So once they are in the towel, fold
them up and let it steam for about 10 mins. Then you are going to go in and rub the dish
towel against the nuts and you'll see all the skins will start to come off. You probably
will not be able to remove all the skins so if they don't come off that's OK. Once
they are done you want to roughly chop them and then set aside until ready to use them.
In a small bowl add some flour, baking powder and salt whisk that all together just until
incorporated.
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar, just
until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, add an egg and some vanilla, once that's
all mixed together, you are going to slowly add your flour mixture, beat it on low just
until all incorporated. Remove it from the mixture and then you are going to add your
hazelnuts, stir that all together and then add the chocolate chips.
With this pie you don't really want too many chocolate chips, and let me tell you
why, when I tried it I put in a whole bag of chocolate chips when I baked it, it turned
into a big glob of chocolate. The chocolate chips were not well distributed, it didn't
really bake properly the way a cookie would. So I really say ?-1/2 cup of chocolate chips
is really all you need.
Turn out the dough into a rimmed tart pan, about 9 inches, spread it all out, so it
's easily distributed and bake for about ? an hour. Once it's done you will see you
have the most beautiful looking cookie but in a tart pan. When you serve it you are going
to dust with powdered sugar and serve it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. And watch your
guests go nuts! Kids will love it, and adults will love it too, it's so delicious your
guests will be talking about it for weeks.
If you want to throw a grilled cheese and soup party. Here's the game plan
First, I'd recommend limiting the menu to 2 soups and maybe 2-3 types of sandwiches.
Anymore than that, and it could turn into a lot of work. The trick is to keep it simple
I'd pick soups that are most different from each other. Say Potato and Leek and Tomato
or the Spicy Corn and Sweet Butternut Squash. That way you'll have a nice variety.
Same thing with the sandwiches. Maybe pick 1 meat option and one vegetarian.
This menu is really easy to serve because you can set it all up as a buffet.
Place your soup pots on trivets, and then place the sandwiches on platters and let guests
serve themselves. It makes it more fun and interactive
I also like to place the spoons out decoratively. Just one up and one down. It's a small silly
detail but just makes the buffet look nice, and reminds me of something my grandmother
would have done for one of her bridge luncheons. It's old school, but that's why I like
it.
The day before the party, make the chocolate chip pie. Just keep it well covered in foil
at room temperature and it will still be ridiculously good the next day.
Make all your soups and pour into quart containers and refrigerate.
If you're making the mozzarella pesto sandwiches, make the homemade pesto and keep covered and
refrigerate.
The day of the party, if you are making the bacon grilled cheese sandwiches, you can cook
the bacon, chop it up and place in an airtight container. And leave out at room temperature.
If you are making the corn soup, you can toast your tortilla and keep wrapped in foil at
room temperature
A half hour before guests arrive, take out all your ingredients for the sandwiches and
begin to grill them. Transfer to a sheet pan and cover loosely with foil., that will prevent
the bread from drying out Place in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.
Pour your soup back into pots and set on a low flame to heat.
If you soup is too thick, just add a little more vegetable stock to it, that will thin
it out.
Set out your buffet and when guests arrive, they'll be so impressed they'll want to
dig right in!
So that's how you throw a grilled cheese and soup party! I hope you guys will give
this one a try. It's a fun casual way to entertain, that your guests will think is
fun and different.