Avocado, Spinach and Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich

No proper recipe posts in a few days, I apologize! That’s because I’ve simply been busy and didn’t have enough time to take, sit down and start writing. I’ve been trying to go on with my master’s thesis that I’m writing at the moment and writing, looking for motivation, reading and ambiguous struggling with the topic have taken all my time during the past days (or better, months). In addition, I’m gonna turn 30 YEARS OLD on Friday! Holding a party for my friends is interrupting my thesis writing a little bit, cause I planned to cook a full table for the occasion - should take Thursday and Friday to prepare the stuff. I hope everything turns out good (not too many screw-ups in the kitchen for me!) and I can share the stuff with you here.

Talking about busy times, it’s been less busy in the kitchen this week. Simple things are the best things, I like to say! Last time I blogged about grilled cheese sandwiches it was a similar situation: too much to do to concentrate properly on cooking, AND nothing in the fridge. At the moment we have a lot of things there, though. But not much energy to do something with them. I promise that later this week and next I’ll blog at least about the best Indian food you can possibly prepare at home, some gnocchi ‘n cheese and a continuity for my asparagus posts, asparagus pesto pasta.

But now, here’s a quick recipe from always so great Tastespotting. I originally spotted it from Pinterest, and thought it’s a slightly healthier option, with all that green, for us who love cheese (the more the better). I modified it slightly, to fit in what I had in the fridge.

Avocado, Spinach and Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich (for 2)

4 slices whole grain bread

1 ripe avocado, halved and sliced

big handful of baby spinach, washed and drained

2 tablespoons green pesto (I used store bought)

2 tablespoons Philadelphia cheese (or other cream cheese)

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, finely grated

100g mozzarella cheese, shredded

a few leaves fresh basil

salt & black pepper to taste

olive oil, for frying

Spread one tablespoon of pesto on 2 slices of bread. Spread the remaining two bread slices with Philadelphia cheese.

Sprinkle the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses evenly on each four bread slices. 

Spread half and half of the baby spinach on the bread slices with pesto. Top the cream cheese bread slices with sliced avocado. Finish with some fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper to your taste. 

Press together one bread slice with pesto and spinach and one bread slice with cream cheese and avocado. 

Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over low-medium heat. Add the sandwich to the pan and cook until bread is crispy and golden brown. Carefully flip the sandwich over and cook the other side in a same way.

Spinach and Creme Fraiche Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Being into food and eating and being a (poor) student isn’t always an easy combination. Even though we’ve decided with my boyfriend that food is the last thing we’re saving from (thanks also to the god-forbidden city we live in, where there’s not much to do or spend your money in), it’s still sometimes annoying not to be able to buy everything you’d want. For instance, we rarely cook fancy stuff like filet mignon or more pricey seafood, just because at the moment it wouldn’t be very smart. Instead we try to eat well and enjoy fullest the most simple dishes and ingredients. This far it’s worked great! But I promise that when I graduate (haha, and learn to cook better) you will find here some more sophisticated stuff too.

Anyway, because of somewhat tight budget we’re living with at the moment, we have decided to plan our weekly menu in advance and go to the supermarket only once a week. Along time we noticed it doesn’t make any sense to visit the market every day, hungry, thinking what might be nice to eat that day. And then buy a lot of things to choose from. And the next day you, again, don’t have anything to eat. So doing a precise list and going grocery shopping once a week is a smart thing, financially. Otherwise I could shop food every day, as I enjoy it a lot!

This strategy, however, causes moments when we really find our refrigerator empty and there’s barely anything to fill your stomach with. A couple of days ago this happened, so the only possibility to fix a quick lunch was to have a sandwich. As you see, because of the lack of all the ingredients is was rather simple, but great in taste! The inspiration came from A Couple Cooks.

Spinach and Creme Fraiche Grilled Cheese

4 slices bread (the fresher the better of course)

150g baby spinach

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons creme fraiche

1 tablespoon olive oil

250ml cheese, shredded (I used mozzarella with some gruyère)

salt and black pepper

butter

Coarsely chop the garlic. Wash and dry the spinach. If you use baby spinach, there’s no need to chop it smaller.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Sautee garlic for a couple of minutes on a medium heat. Add the spinach with a pinch of salt and sautee for 1 minute more, until just slightly softened. Stir in creme fraiche and some more salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Heat up a grill pan on medium heat. Place 2 pieces of bread on the griddle, buttered side down. On each piece, sprinkle ¼ of the shredded cheese, half of the spinach filling, the rest of the cheese and the other piece of bread.

When the bottom bread is browned, flip the sandwich and cook until the bread is toasted and the cheese has melted.