Grilled Cheese Panini

Grilled cheese sandwiches are one of my favorite comfort foods. I tend to use whatever cheese I have on hand and add other ingredients, like tomatoes or arugula. When making grilled cheese, there are a number of ways to build the sandwich. I prefer to build it in the grill pan, but McHubby usually assembles the sandwich first and then places it in the pan to cook. Also, I like to oil the bread instead of the pan—it uses less oil and cooks directly into the sandwich. Regardless of how you build your grilled cheese panini, it never disappoints!

Ingredients

2 slices of bread
2 slices cheese (e.g., white cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss)
2-3 tomato slices
Olive oil

Directions

Heat a grill pan. Drizzle olive oil on one side of a slice of bread and place onto the hot pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Layer a slice of cheese, tomatoes, and another slice of cheese. Top it with the other bread slice and drizzle the outside with olive oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Check the underside of the sandwich, and when brown grill marks are visible, flip the sandwich over. Be careful not to burn the bread. When grill marks are visible on the underside of the sandwich, remove from the grill pan. The cheese should be melted and the bread toasted golden brown with grill lines. Serve hot.