The Best Mozzarella Grilled Cheese from Why I Cook

"Like many other dads, I make a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids. This one started as a way to use the mozzarella from Lombardi's Love Lane Market, an Italian deli in Mattituck that makes the world's best fresh mozz. Paired with 'nduja, a peppery spreadable Italian sausage, the grilled cheese essentially becomes a spicy pizza. It's decadent for sure, but the spice of the 'nduja cuts through the richness of the mozzarella."

- Tom Colicchio

My kids know what they like & they're not afraid to shout it at me. So you can imagine their excitement when they found Tom Colicchio's mozzarella grilled cheese recipe! Give it a shot and don't be surprised when you discover that mozzarella is the best cheese for grilled cheese.

Learn more about cooking with kids and check out one of the best dad recipes you can turn to again and again.

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• Why I Cook
• Sunday Gravy, Meatballs, & Braciole
• Food from Around the World: Free Cooking Lessons
• Top Tip
• How to Make the Best Mozzarella Grilled Cheese
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• Free Grilled Cheese Recipe for Pre-Readers and Up
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Why I Cook

This recipe for the Best Grilled Cheese You'll Ever Have comes from Why I Cook by Tom Colicchio, 8-time James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of several restaurants, among numerous other accolades. You may also know him as the head judge and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bravo hit series, Top Chef.

Inside Why I Cook, Tom talks about discovering and then nurturing his passion for cooking at age fourteen:

The snack shack was hot, smoky, smelly, greasy, and cramped, and I loved it. Standing at the grill barefoot, bare chested, tossing my long hair out of my eyes, I felt a sense of mastery over everything in my reach. The flattop, the fryer, it all made sense to me. Each new order Don called out, no matter how rapid-fire, seamlessly integrated in my mind into the orders that were already underway.

I felt none of the anxiety a blank piece of paper in school could elicit, nothing but a calm sense of responding to incoming information in real time. I quickly developed muscle memory and an ear for the shifting sizzle of the fryer oil, telling me when to pull up the basket of fries. I could intuit when a grilled cheese was just at the right side of burnt and get a bun toasted at the corresponding moment its patty was ready.

I was awash in a sense of competence and ease, that good feeling that comes from always knowing what to do next. It was like the old me - the real me - was back. I put that feeling in my pocket and carried it with me. It was worth more than the cash Don paid me under the table every week.

As the summer wore on, my ambitions grew. I got it in my head that I could create recipes from scratch, and Don went along with it...The line at the snack shack grew longer, Don was happy, and best of all, I was growing. Without even intending to, we had transformed a mediocre concession stand into perhaps the best poolside snack shack in all of Union County. More importantly, I had found my lane.

If you like this recipe, try Tom's steak with mushrooms and salsa verde, pasta e fagioli, fugazzeta, and stuffed eggplant.

How to Make the Best Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

Ingredients

• oil - grab your favorite extra-virgin olive oil
• cheese - thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese makes for the best grilled cheese sandwich
• bread - Tom recommends thick slices of peasant bread but any bread without a heavy sourdough flavor works well
• 'nduja - a not-so-easy to find Italian sausage spread, depending on where you live. Luckily, an easy copycat 'nduja is just a click away. See what's in ours below
• butter - you'll want unsalted butter for this mozzarella grilled cheese

Equipment

• Apron
• Prep Bowls
• Child-Friendly Knife
• Cutting Board
• Measuring Spoons
• Blender or Food Processor (optional)
• Wooden Spoon
• Blue Carbon Steel Pan
• Frying Pan Universal Lid
• Learning Tower (as needed)

Make the 'Nduja Substitute (If Needed)

Wash your hands with soap and water. When combined in a food processor or blender, ingredients such as pancetta, peppers, crushed Calabrian chili paste, paprika, red pepper, buttermilk, and olive oil transform into a tasty 'nduja substitute.

Use a spoon to scrape the sides and make sure it is well-combined. Set it aside.

Heat the Oil in the Pan

Use a measuring spoon to add 1 tablespoon of oil to a pan and heat over medium-low heat.

Build the Mozzarella Grilled Cheese Sandwich Halves

Use a knife and cutting board to thinly slice the fresh mozzarella or do like my kids and cut huge slices because thicker is better.

Layer the mozzarella slices on 2 slices of bread, and the 'nduja on the other 2 slices of bread.

Transfer 2 Sandwich Halves to the Pan

Transfer 1 slice of bread with mozzarella and 1 slice of bread with 'nduja to the pan, open-faced. In other words, the sandwich is NOT put together yet. The mozzarella and the 'nduja should be face up in the pan.

Cook, Cover, and Cook Some More

Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes.

Cover the pan with the universal pan lid and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Flip the Halves Together for 1 Sandwich

Remove the slices of bread from the pan and immediately flip them together onto a plate. Use a knife to slice the sandwich in half crosswise.

Repeat Steps 2 Thru 6 for a Second Sandwich

Wipe the pan with a clean towel and repeat steps 2 thru 6 to make the second sandwich. Turn off the stove when finished.

Serve the sandwiches immediately. Pair half of a sandwich with a side of soup or homemade french fries for the ultimate feeling of comfort. Be sure to bookmark this recipe. It's a family favorite!

Free Grilled Cheese Recipe for Pre-Readers and Up