April is National Grilled Cheese Month, so we’re celebrating by posting a grilled cheese sandwich every day. This is No. 14. See all of our grilled cheese sandwiches >> here << .
The weather has been fickle, if not downright strange, lately (at least here in LA). One minute it’s pouring rain, the next minute there’s a chance of…
…meatballs?
Today’s grilled cheese sandwich is brought to you by LA weather, Friday night Italian leftovers, and a deep dive into life’s library of food-ish movies that we’ve never seen because 1) we don’t watch movies and 2) until a few months ago we didn’t even have a TV to watch DVDs.
The following recipe is for a Meatball Marinara Grilled Cheese only: garlic buttered bread, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, fresh basil, thinly sliced meatball (you’d be surprised how far a single meatball goes when you slice it!) and drenched in a tomato sauce. Choose from any number of recipes for meatballs here, and this is our favorite recipe for a very basic tomato sauce.
Meatball Marinara Grilled Cheese Sandwich
makes 1 sandwich
Ingredients
2 slices of sturdy bread
2 tablespoons softened butter mixed with 1 teaspoon very finely minced garlic
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or more)
1 large meatball, carefully sliced into about 4 or 5 rounds, warmed (find a meatball recipe here, even vegetarian!)
¼ cup toamto/marinara sauce, warmed (this is our simple tomato sauce recipe here)
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
fresh basil, chiffonade
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon olive oil
Directions
Spread both slice of bread with garlic butter. Top each half with ¼ cup each of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium low heat. Place both slices of bread in pan with cheese facing up. Allow the bread to brown and the cheese melt. It will take about 6 or 7 minutes.
Remove grilled bread from pan. If your meatball is cold (leftover) gently warm the slices in the pan, then remove to another plate.
On one slice of bread, carefully arrange the warm/hot meatball slices. Spoon marinara sauce over meatballs, then sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Add a few ribbons of fresh basil, then cover the sandwich with the top half of the bread. Firmly press the sandwich together.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Holy yum. It’s like a meatball sub, but on crack. I know what I’m doing with my leftovers next time!
This is simply a beautiful looking sandwich. It’s rustically delicious and I can’t wait to make it!
I think these are amazing enough to warrant making a batch of meatballs and sauce on purpose to make these . . . great photos, btw, too!!!
Another stupid sandwich that is too tall to eat. What the hell is the point of making food that can’t be eaten.
hi dale! it actually wasn’t too tall to eat at all. in fact, that’s precisely why it’s made with meatballs that have been thinly sliced (unlike those meatballs subs with whole meatballs). if it look too tall in the second photo, it’s only because i cut the sandwich in half and stacked the two halves (for the picture, to show the insides).
thanks for the comment anyway.
Now that is a tasty looking grilled cheese!
OMG, this looks so good! I’m going to make this on the weekend for sure.
oh this looks amazing, heading to the kitchen to make it right now!!
This is something I normally wouldn’t make at home but the pictures somehow got me interested! It might just be a little bit difficult to eat since it’s so big. However I am absolutely sure that I will find a way!
This grilled cheese looks so delicious. Have you entered it in the Grilled Cheese Academy’s recipe showdown? If not, you should! Here’s the website: http://grilledcheeseacademy.com