Roasted Tomato and Pesto Grilled Cheese

Here’s what we’re going to do:

We’re going to go to our refrigerators and gather all of the delicious things.  If those things are roasted, pesto-ed, and melty… that’s ideal.

Truth be told, sometimes all I have in the fridge is orange juice and bendy celery… that’s why God invented bourbon and those Chinese take-out menus at the bottom of my junk drawer.  Orange juicy and bendy celery aren’t allowed in this sandwiches.  Not on this day… when there is precious Brie and pesto in the refrigerator.

This is what it looks like to pack every delicious item in my refrigerator between toasted and buttered bread.

I’ve also been known to shove everything delicious in my refrigerator into a giant bowl of pasta.  When something is good, don’t you just want to add carbs?  YES.

My friend Tracy taught me to be the kind of person that has pesto on hand.  It’s called Fridge Pesto and you should totally jump on the bandwagon especially if you have wilted spinach in your refrigerator.  (Continue to ignore the bendy celery.)

On this sandwich is thinly sliced Brie (rind and all), smeared spinach pesto, roasted cherry tomatoes, salty parmesan cheese and buttah!

Roasting the tomatoes intensifies their flavor and sweetness.  The Spinach Pesto adds a happy green, garlic-y kick.  Two kinds of cheese because we’re the kind of people who deserve two different kinds of cheese on your sandwich.  Spread with butter and grilled on each side until the center is just warm and melty.

Next: settle yourself into a cozy place (somewhere near the open back porch door and the washing machine), sit right down on the floor and eat every bite of the sandwich before you’ve successfully taken any decent pictures of it.  It’s fiiiine.  Most people have seen melted cheese on bread before.  Relax.  Scroll through Instagram.  Only move when the desire for a beverage or potato chips stirs you beyond laziness.  Bendy celery be damned.

 
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Roasted Tomato and Pesto Grilled Cheese

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: makes 2 sandwiches 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 4 thick sliced seeded whole wheat bread
• about 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup basil pesto
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• wedge of Brie cheese, sliced thin (rind and all)

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Instructions

1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the tomatoes on the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
3. Allow to roast for 20 minutes until bubbling and browned a bit. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit.
4. Place a skillet over medium-low heat.
5. Butter both sides of all slices of bread. Spread two slices of bread with basil pesto and parmesan cheese. Top the two remaining slices with Brie cheese and roasted tomato.
6. Sandwich together and grill on both sides until the bread is golden and crisp and the Brie is melted.
7. Slice in half and enjoy immediately.

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