Classic Grilled Cheese with Marinated Onions and Whole Grain Mustard Recipe

I started a week-long letterpress intensive on Monday at the Center for the Book here in San Francisco. For those of you who aren't familiar with letterpress, it is a way of printing paper using hand cranked, 'ye olde' printing presses. You hand set each and every letter of type, mix your ink colors, and can use this method to create personal stationary, posters, books, notices, or invitations -- all with a very refined, beautiful, textured look. As technology advanced letterpress was all but abandoned and replaced with faster and cheaper printing methods. A couple nice letterpress examples: here and here. I will post a few pictures of my projects next week and you can let me know what you think. I have been packing a lunch this week, which is kind of funny, as it really makes me feel like I am back in school -- so I decided to try this easy-to-make Grilled Cheese sandwich from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich book.

This sandwich is not for the faint of heart (or breath for that matter). It is a sandwich slathered in whole-grain mustard, scattered with vinegar-marinated onions and topped off with a healthy dose of gruyere cheese. You finish it off with a nice toasting on the panini grill which gives the bread a nice crust and crunch which is great against the oozy cheese. It is a very adult grilled cheese with very strong flavors, which is just the way I like them -- but if you bring a sandwich like this to work, or have a date later in the evening bring an arsenal of mints because you will need them. And I think next time I will add a layer of something green to the sandwich after it comes off the grill -- maybe some baby spinach or something.

While I was at it, I also whipped up a batch of Nancy's Lemon Ginger Muffins to share with my six classmates -- these are from her pastry book. They were a big hit and a little different than your average muffins. You bake them, let them cook and then dunk them in a sugary, fresh lemon juice. As if that isn't enough you then drizzle a final sugar glaze on top of them which hardens into a tasty sugar glaze crust. Really delicious and easy to make.

I'll wrap things up here by letting you in on a bit of the delicious festivities that decended on my house last Saturday. Amy and Pim had the idea of rounding up the people blogging about food in SF for some face time. I offered up my house, and happily surrendered my kitchen to a stunning array of amazing food, wine, and conversation. Amy, Pim, Derrick, Alaina (fresh from NYC), Alder, Anne, and Heather, all made the date and I can't wait for round two. I need to remind myself (so I'll do it here) to ask Amy for her sweet fig + olive tapenade recipe, and will forever make Pim's Raspberry + Fig Crostata as a half-latticed because it is impossible that it could have tasted any better even with the other half of lattice. You can read their accounts of the night here, here, here, and here.

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