Comte' grilled cheese

Not much to write about this little treat - it's a grilled cheese sandwich.

Not the grilled cheese you were served as a kid, mind you - this is a hefty, hearty, happening version of the classic.

When cooking simple food, probably the most important part is choosing special ingredients.  A grilled cheese sandwich is basically bread, butter, and cheese - but the end result of my dish was a much improved version:

• The bread - crusty French loaf from a local bakery
  
• The butter - unsalted Plugra
  
• The cheese - comte', an aged French cheese produced only from one particular region, with restrictions on the type of cow, grazing acreage and production (in other words, it's tasty, a bit fussy, and a bit spendy)
  

I sliced the French loaf a little thicker than normal, buttered each side, added just a small amount of fine-ground salt and fresh-ground pepper to each buttered side and placed each slice in the skillet on medium heat.

I charred the pieces for just a few minutes to build up a crust, then turned the heat down to medium low and added the comte', which I had brought to room temperature.  I bought the cheese as a chunk off a wheel and used a mandolin (a Christmas prezzie from a friend!) to slice it uniformly.

When the cheese began showing just a bit of "give", right before the melting point, I flipped one slice of bread and cheese over onto the other and finished off my sandwich, turning it just once to re-heat the opposite side.

JUST a grilled cheese sandwich?  I think not!