Grilled Cheese or Sandwich Mixto?

I really wasn't going to blog this, come on... grilled cheese... it doesn't get simplier than that, but the controversy between the Canadian and Spanish version makes it pretty interesting. What is the best way to eat it? When Spaniards were telling me to eat a sandwich mixto, I had no clue what they were talking about. When they explained to me that it was bread with cheese and ham inside... I said: Oh, a grilled cheese but with ham! And then, it was their turn to have the confused look on their face. I  had to explain what a grilled cheese was and they were surprised: Only cheese inside.. how boring! Lol To each their own! But I personally prefer my grilled cheese as I am not really fond of regular ham. Give me some lomo, jamon or anything else and I'll happily eat it. I guess I had too many cold sandwiches in my school days that I can't really stand the stuff anymore...

Ok, since we were going hiking in the afternoon, I had to prepare something fast. My toast bread was getting old so I decided to use it. David jumped at the idea of bread and said he wanted some grilled cheese / sandwich mixto :). Unlike me, he actually likes the ham inside the grilled cheese... So I decided to compensate, add something else. I brought back some Coppa from Italy (the top part of lomo) and sliced some up to use :) Best decision ever! The ageing of the meat went perfectly with the cheese :)

Another controversy: olive oil or butter. I hate to admit it to my Spanish friends but there is nothing that beats butter on toast bread! Sorry... olive oil is for baguettes or other breads but not toast bread. Especially if you are going to do a grilled cheese. Leave the oil and take out the butter. You won't regret it :)

Grilled Cheese / Sandwich Mixto

Ingredients:

8 bread slices
4 cheese slices (Tranchettes for Spaniards and Singles for Canadians)
8 slices of coppa or any cold cut
butter

Melt the butter and brush it onto one side of each slice (the side that will be grilled).

Flip them around and place 1 cheese slice and 2 meat slices on each.

Close the sandwich. Heat a small pan, when hot, place the sandwich to grill.

When browned, flip around.

Remove from pan when the other side is brown as well and there you have it! My version of a grilled cheese!

I served it with a parmesan, cherry tomatoes salad. Oh, and my new addiction: Creamy balsamic vinegar. BEST THING EVER! I love it. Such a nice garnish; not too vinegary with a creamy texture. Makes for great presentation and with an awesome taste :)

All in all, a great super fast and easy meal. We were out of the house in no time and heading to the mountains for our almost 4 hours hike.

Oh, and for those that think that Madrid is so warm, here is a picture of Santo enjoying the snow on our hike about 1 hour north of Madrid in the mountains (Yes, he is the black spot on the snow in the middle lol). Enjoy :)