🧀 Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Sandwich 🧀
Inspired By Eric Ripert
The Chef is a genius at pairing seafood with minimal ingredients to create a dish where the diner is astonished that those simple components could be combined in such a way to result in something so spectacular.
Here a plain old grilled cheese sandwich is perfect in its four-star simplicity with just four items: smoked salmon, Swiss cheese, bread, and butter. After I came across this Instagram post by Eric Ripert, and being a lover of salmon in all its preparations, Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese just had to be on my menu.
At Le Bernardin Chef Ripert is world-renowned for his exquisite, clean, seafood-centered cuisine. With this sandwich he proves that every dish does not have to be fancy to be sublime.
Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Recipe
Ingredients:
- pre-sliced Swiss cheese (we like mild, nutty-buttery Baby Swiss by Sargento)
- sliced bread (we like Como, an Italian country style bread with a golden crust, open texture, and mild sourdough flavor)
- thinly sliced smoked salmon
- butter
Method:
Place one slice of cheese on top of one piece of bread. Layer smoked salmon over the cheese then top the salmon with another slice of cheese and bread.
Melt butter in a small non-stick skillet. Place the sandwich in the butter and cook over medium heat until nicely golden-browned. Press on the sandwich with the back of a fish spatula to somewhat compress it. Flip the sandwich over and brown the other side.
The cheese should start to melt and the salmon should be warm but not cooked.
To Plate:
Slice the sandwich, plate and enjoy!
The Chef notes that this Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese is great with a salad. In keeping with the simplicity theme, I serve it with an arugula salad dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar, pickled red onion, and Kalamata olives. An un-oaked Chardonnay pairs well with this sandwich.