Grilled Cheese with Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette

We had grilled cheese this afternoon. I'd been waiting for my son to get home on spring break from UNC Chapel Hill to break out the halloom cheese. He's heard me and his brother raving about this cheese and has seen the photos here on Barbecue Master.

For anyone who has not tried grilled cheese, I must say that you are missing out. I'd rank grilled cheese right up with high quality chocolate. Yes. It is that good. I'm not even a huge cheese freak. I've never been one to just sit and eat plain cheese. I'd go with crackers with cheese. But . . . not with cheese on the grill. It just melts in my mouth, and I could eat tons of this stuff.

When grilling cheese, you want to marinate or brush it will oil or an oil based product. My favorite oil for grilled cheese is Garlic Gold. The last time I grilled cheese, I used Garlic Gold Oil. This time, I had a sample bottle they sent of their Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette. Both worked great.

If you're not familiar with the Garlic Gold company, they have a ranch called Seven Oaks Ranch where they grow organic products like their garlic and then create and sell hand crafted garlic nuggets, oils, and vinaigrettes. I fell in love from the first taste, and the company keeps in touch. You really couldn't ask for nicer people, and I like to support great people making great products.

Getting the cheese ready was as simple as pouring some of the Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette over the cheese. That's as easy a recipe as they come. Since the Garlic Gold oils and vinaigrettes are flavor infused, there's no need to add anything else. You don't, after all, want to overpower the cheese, and the Garlic Gold products are subtle but terrific.

I heated up the Char Broil Urban Grill which is a small two burner gas grill that is perfect for my small family. It is important to heat the grates well. So, I put the grill on high and put the lid down. When the temperature gauge hit about 600 degrees F, I opened the lid.

After the grill was good and hot, I opened the lid and waited about 5 minutes. You do want the grates hot but don't want a whole lot of heat otherwise. This is cheese after all, so don't go with high grill heat like a steak, or you will have a mess. A couple of my friends had this happen. I'm sure they just had too much heat going with the barbecue cheese. I've never had a fail on grilled cheese (knock on wood).

Grilled cheese can also be done over charcoal, and that adds a nice smoked flavor. In that case, do the same as with gas but offset the charcoal. The grate gets hot, but you have the space with no direct heat to actually grill off the cheese.

When the cheese starts to look melty (begins to droop slightly between the grates), it's time to turn the cheese. I just use grill tongs. The cheese holds together just fine.

Grilling cheese only takes a few minutes. I think I went around 6 minutes today with the lid closed part of the time due to the low temperatures outside. Brrrr. On warmer days, I may or may not close the lid. I don't leave the lid closed for long (maybe a minute), because I don't want to melt the cheese through the grates. So, this is a really simple grilled dish but one that you want to watch close.

My son from college thought the grilled cheese was fabulous, and he's going to pick up more at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill. I can't buy grilling cheese around here. I'm hoping Harris Teeter will start carrying it, because we sure do love it.

Greek Grilled Burgers - Stand Out Burgers on the Barbecue Grill

Grilled Greek Burger

It was a Greek burger night here. OK. Grilled hamburgers aren't traditionally Greek, but I took flavors from when I lived in Greece to make a Greek inspired grilled hamburger.

First, I hand patted the hamburgers which does make a big difference, and I added about 1/4 cup of feta cheese right in the meat as I was mixing and patting. You can use ground lamb which is more traditionally Greek, but we only had ground beef or turkey here.

For five burgers here, I had about 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef. Quarter pound in 80/20 (lean to fat ratio) tends to shrink and be a little skimpy, but a full 1/2 pound burger is more than I can handle.

The Garlic Gold company just sent me a bottle of their new Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette to check out. It's perfect for salads, but it also makes a wonderful marinade for the burgers on the grill.

So, these burgers were marinated with Garlic Gold Vinaigrette and then also sprinkled with Garlic Gold Nuggets. Those are the little dots you see on the hamburgers. I go fairly light but add more on mine at the table, since I am a big garlic fan.

Sticking with the Greek theme for these grilled burgers, I used tomato and cucumber which would be what they serve in salads in Greece. Lettuce is rare, but I did add some, since I like lettuce on hamburgers. Then, the topping is tzatziki which is a Greek condiment with yogurt and cucumber.

You can, of course, switch up with what you like on burgers. The stand out flavors here were the Garlic Gold Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette used as a marinade and the Garlic Gold sprinkles for flavor. These are products that I have found to be really fabulous.

Be sure to also check out my Greek potatoes on the grill with Garlic Gold. Those went over so well that they are my "grill these often" list. One of my buddies at Grillers Index saw them this week and made them, and he thought they rocked too. It's just hard to beat Greek potatoes especially on the grill with a little smoke flavor.