Uptown Grilled Cheese

What goes best with soup? Grilled cheese sandwiches, of course!

We had four kinds of cheese in the fridge from our New Year's Eve feast with my foodie and wino relatives and a nice big pot of butternut squash soup, so My Beloved and I decided to try making fancier versions of the lowly but lovable grilled cheese sandwich to go with the soup.

We had two from the Cowgirl Creamery, a Red Hawk and a Mt. Tam, plus a small wedge of Humboldt Fog and a little round of herbed chevre so I made four half-sandwiches on sourdough batard from Acme Bakery so we could try them all.

They were all yummy in their own way - it was hard to choose a favorite. The stinky Red Hawk turned unctuous and gentle in the heat, but with an earthy aftertone. The Humboldt Fog tasted much the way that cheese does anyway, killer-delicious. The Mt. Tam ran out of the bread and frizzled to lace on the hot pan. I'd have to say for my taste, the herbed goat was the tastiest, but the others made it a contest. I'll always still love good old cheddar and Swiss for grilled cheese but these four really were a fun experiment.