This is the ultimate gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. It’s stuffed with chopped fresh tarragon, Bourbon caramelized shallots and melted, extra-sharp white cheddar cheese. The cheese is mixed with ground yellow mustard seeds for extra punch.
Grilled cheese is a classic for good reason. Melted cheese sandwiched between buttery and crispy fried bread simply can’t go wrong. But grilled cheese gets even better when you add a touch of gourmet!
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Recipe ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter – you need about half of the butter to caramelize the shallots and the other half to spread on the outside of the sandwiches. I always recommend unsalted butter simply because you can never know how much salt is in salted butter; the amounts differ from brand to brand.
- 3 shallots – peel the shallots and slice them more or less evenly so they caramelize evenly.
- 1 tablespoon Bourbon – arguably the most important ingredient in this recipe, Bourbon takes the caramelized shallots from pedestrian to spectacular by adding its signature oak and caramel flavors.
- 6 slices sourdough – thick slices of a dark and rustic loaf work best in this recipe.
- 6 ounces extra-sharp white cheddar cheese – I recommend to get a block of cheddar and grate it yourself, rather than buying already grated cheese, which is usually coated with corn starch to keep it from clumping.
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds – yellow mustard seed is one of the best spices for grilled cheese, in my opinion. The seeds have a sharpness that intensifies the sharp flavor of the cheddar without adding the acidity that actual mustard would add. If you start with whole seeds, you need to grind them in a mortar with a pestle into a powder. Or, you can simply buy already ground seeds.
- 30 fresh tarragon leaves – the flavor of tarragon works absolutely great with the Bourbon and the cheddar in this recipe.
Kitchen tools needed:
- cheese grater
- measuring spoon
- knife and cutting board
- non-stick frying pan or cast iron pan
- mixing bowl
- a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder are optional – if you don’t have them, just use already ground mustard seeds
How to make the sandwich:
How to caramelize shallots:
- In a pan, melt the butter.
- Add the sliced shallots to the butter and cook over medium heat until browned (this will take about 15 minutes).
Add the bourbon:
- Turn the heat off, add the Bourbon to the pan, turn the heat back on and cook for another minute, then set aside.
Prepare the bread:
- Generously spread butter onto one side of each slice of bread.
How to assemble the sandwiches:
- Turn the bread slices upside down and top the non-buttered side with tarragon.
- Mix the cheese and the mustard seeds together in a bowl and add on top of the tarragon.
- Add the shallots onto the cheese.
- Top with the remaining slices of buttered bread, keeping the buttered side on the outside.
Fry the sandwiches:
- Heat a nonstick frying pan or a cast iron pan.
- Fry each sandwich on both sides until the cheese has melted and the outsides of the bread slices are browned.
Common Questions:
Extra-sharp white cheddar is the best cheese for this particular grilled cheese sandwich recipe. The Bourbon and tarragon flavors are strong and need a strongly flavored cheese for balance.
I recommend that you use a crusty sourdough bread for this recipe.
For this particular recipe, I recommend that you use butter. Mayonnaise adds its signature tanginess and while that’s often a good thing, here it clashes with the flavor of the Bourbon caramelized shallots.
This recipe works well as a stand-alone, complete meal and really doesn’t need any condiments but if you want to serve a pickle with it, I recommend these cinnamon clove-flavored homemade refrigerator pickles.
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Full Recipe
Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tarragon and Bourbon Caramelized Shallots
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons softened, unsalted butter, divided
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon Bourbon
- 6 slices firm sourdough bread
- 6 ounces extra-sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds, ground*
- 30 tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a pan.
- Add the shallots and cook over medium heat until brown, about 15 minutes.
- Turn the heat off, then add the Bourbon to the shallots, turn the heat back on and cook for another minute.
- Take the pan off the heat and set aside.
- Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.
- Turn the slices upside down, sprinkle the tarragon on the non-buttered side.
- Mix the cheese and the mustard seeds together in a bowl.
- Sprinkle the cheese/mustard seed mix onto the tarragon.
- Evenly divide the shallots on top of the cheese.
- Top the sandwiches with the remaining slices of buttered bread, keeping the buttered side on the outside.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan or a cast iron pan on medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Fry each sandwich on both sides until the cheese has melted and the outsides of the bread are browned.
dina
this sounds like a mouth-watering grilled cheese.
Nicole B.
Thank you, Dina! :)
Ami@NaiveCookCooks
This looks amazing with all those flavors and bourbony shallots?!! Kill me!
Nicole B.
Thank you, Ami! They were really delicious. :)
Andree-Anne @ Singly Scrumptious
Mmmm those spices sound really interesting, I never think of putting spices in my grilled cheese. I’ll have to give this a try. thanks for sharing.
Nicole B.
You’re welcome and thanks so much for coming by, Andree-Anne! The mustard seeds added just a little more punch to the cheese, I really liked it.
Thalia @ butter and brioche
Craving all of the cheesy, comforting deliciousness of this grilled cheese sandwich right now. It looks SO good and you have definitely got me hungry!
Nicole B.
Glad to hear that, Thalia! :)