A Fall Favorite

Fall is all about grilled cheeses, soup, leaves, coffee (does it get much better than a Pumpkin Spice Latte?!), and lazy days cuddled up with a good book. I love fall for all of these reasons. In Santa Barbara however, the fall months are not exactly fall-like most of the time. Today it was a blazing ninety degrees...not exactly the crisp fall weather one expects and craves in October. Because real fall days are few and far between, I jump on every one of them and try to do all the cliched things I can possibly think of. So when the temperature hit a somewhat cool and fall-like 60 degrees last week, I took the chance to make a delicious grilled cheese and heat up some tomato soup. I made one of my all-time FAVORITE grilled cheeses - enjoy :) [The pictures do not do the sandwich justice, unfortunately. I really need to get some better lighting in my kitchen. Just trust me on this one and try it!]

Gruyere and Apple Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

- Ciabatta bread

- Olive oil

- Garlic clove

-Red onion

- Salt

- Pepper 

- Gruyere cheese, sliced

- Apple, thinly sliced (I used a Granny Smith)

- Cinnamon

How to:

1. Start by roasting some red onion. Thinly slice some red onion - 1-3 slices per sandwich should be sufficient. Toss the onion with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and broil, flipping once the onions are starting to crisp up on the first side. When the onions are crispy on the second side, remove them from the oven.

2. Slice the ciabatta bread in half. Drizzle the cut side with a little olive oil. Take a garlic clove and cut the top off. Rub the bottom portion on the ciabatta bread. Place the slices on a cookie sheet on the middle shelf and broil until they are golden brown.

3. Place the slices of apple on the bread and top with a little sprinkle of cinnamon. Layer the gruyere on top of the apples and top off with the red onion. Stack the top of the ciabatta onto the sandwich and stick 'em in the oven at about 350 until the cheese is melted! YUM!