Sometimes dinner needs to be uncomplicated. At these times, you might poach an egg or two, toast an english muffin, and maybe nibble on some cheese and fruit. Or you make a cheese quesadilla and smother it with store bought salsa, sour cream if you have it. Or perhaps you make those wonderful Indian “miracle package” dinners (as I referred to them earlier this morning–they’re really called “Indian Fare”) from Trader Joe’s that are really just as good as takeout but cheaper (2.99 apiece, I think), and have no artificial anything. These are dinners that will suffice, as few pots have been dirtied, little brain power has been exerted, and a few simple ingredients have come together to create something , if not delicious, then better than merely palatable.
One of these dinners came together for us the other night, when we invited a travel weary friend over to share some soup, a pureé of celery root, that I’d made on Monday. Our accompaniment that night was a grilled cheese sandwich that you could impress friends with: grated sharp cheddar, slices of roasted turkey, thinly sliced Granny Smith apple, and dijon mustard on farm bread. My method, if you can call it that, was just to grate the cheese, slather some melted butter on the bread, and layer the ingredients like so: bread, grated cheese, apple, turkey, dijon, bread. I like to press down on the sandwich with my spatula to make it a bit more compact, and I like to use moderate to high heat. Probably 3 mins on each side, maybe a touch less. Satisfying, and a little sophisticated, but blessedly low effort.
This travel weary palate was more than grateful for such warm and cozy sustenance and companionship!