Cooking With Beer: Pale Ale Grilled Cheese

Ever since the wife and I (oh yeah, I got married - there was a lot of beer involved) bought a house last June, I've been doing a lot of cooking. Luckily, I also happen to have a lot of beer around the house so it has been making its way into many of the recipes. The latest attempt at culinary prowess was last night's Brown Butter Grilled Beer Cheese, a recipe a nabbed from The Beeroness. Her site has a vast collection of beer-infused recipes which include some fantastic photography as well. I've tried my hand at a few of her recipes and they've all been delicious so make sure you bookmark that site. This grilled cheese was such a success that I thought I'd try to get back into the habit of writing here and share the recipe. I swapped out the mozzarella for a heaping of pepper jack instead and used some of Lagunitas' New DogTown Pale Ale for the spread. The cheese is a bit runny but it all came together quite gloriously with a bowl of homemade tomato soup. Check out the recipe below and thank me later.

Ingredients

• 6 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Pale Ale
• 4 oz cheddar
• 8 slices bread
• 4 tbs butter

Directions

• In a blender or food processor add the cream cheese, mozzarella, cornstarch and beer. Blend until smooth, about 3 minutes. Spread the beer cheese generously onto 4 slices of bread. Top with about 2 tbs of cheddar and then top with a clean slice of bread.
• In a skillet with a lid melt the butter over medium heat (don't allow the butter to get too hot or it will burn) until just starting to turn a golden brown. Carefully add the sandwiches, and replace the lid allowing the sandwiches to steam in the pan until the underside is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the sandwiches, replace the lid and allow to cook until the other side is a light golden brown and the cheese is melted, about 3 additional minutes.

Cheers!