Toasted Gruyere Sandwiches
Most of the time when I pick out my groceries, I have a vague idea of what I’m going to do with them. And then by the time Thursday rolls around, I’ve forgotten what those ideas were and I have a handful of things that are about to go bad if I don’t think of something to use them for. That’s how recipes like this happen.
But as long as you buy lots of delicious ingredients, you can’t really go wrong. I think.
I had a loaf of french bread, a handful of roma tomatoes, and a variety of cheeses and vegetables on hand. Hm. I decided to do simple, toasted sandwiches and they came out quite well. Plus, they’re easy. It was also my first time making a balsamic reduction. Delicious.
PrintToasted Gruyere Sandwiches
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of french bread
- 4 oz Gruyere
- 4 Roma tomatoes
- 1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
- Pinch of dried basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400
- Slice the loaf length wise and then into small sandwich-sized pieces. Honestly, you can kind of make them as big or as small as you like.
- Slice the cheese thinly, and place over the bread, covering the bottom slice complete.
- Thinly slice the tomatoes and place on top of the cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- While that’s baking, place the balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan on the stove.
- Bring the vinegar to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer.
- Stir occasionally and simmer until it becomes a little thicker. It takes about 10 minutes. Then let it sit for another 5 minutes and it’ll continue to thicken into a syrup.
- (That, my friends, is a balsamic reduction. It’s delicious.)
- Take the sandwich out of the oven and then drizzle with the balsamic reduction. Sprinkle with basil and serve!
It wasn’t fancy (although just saying “balsamic reduction” made me sound pretty fancy) but it hit the spot. My plan was to make a salad to go with this, but until Alex and I get married, we will continue to live in a state of  divided groceries and missing ingredients. I can’t wait until we live under the same roof.
P.S. If you missed Wednesday’s post, head on over and enter to win a food processor!
Not fancy? Well it sure looks fancy & delicious to me! To answer your question, I almost always plan out my meals before venturing to the grocery store. If I don’t, I’ll end up either not buying enough or over buying.
That’s so smart! I definitely need to get better at planning ahead!
Wow. Just wow.
Looks so dang delicious, I think I need some variation of this for lunch today 🙂
Oh, yum! I need to plan meals before I go to the store, otherwise I end up wandering dazed and confused and don’t buy anything! I do have some fallback meals that I can always throw together, but then I get tired of them.
Haha yeah, I definitely have some fallback meals that include a lot of canned beans 😉
Those look really good. I cannot stop staring at the photo LOL. I’m terrible at meal planning so anything really goes when I’m doing it.
I might be guilty of planning dinner at the grocery store about 15 min. ago. Hey, it’s Friday.
This sandwich looks so good. What is it about the combo of tomato and cheese that is just perfection?
I try to hold to the plan of purchases, but… Often in shops there is something new and tempting! And then I again remain with a big box of chocolate with pomegranate and without chicken. Well, something should be endowed 😉 Balsam reduction looks (and sounds) surprisingly! I am going to try to prepare it soon
Will you please come make this for me right now for lunch?? Please and thank you! 😉
Gruyere cheese is one of my faves, it’s soo delicious. 🙂 It’s also great for Cheesey dishes 🙂 Happy Friday Liz! -Iva
I never plan meals, just ingredients! I lived on tomato and broiled mozzarella sandwiches for lunch easily for years without deviating unless I ate out at a restaurant. So simple and delicious.
Woahhhhh this sounds incredible!! 🙂
Just… all of it!