Tavern Grilled Cheese

When I had Asiago (my former cafe) open, we used to make this sandwich.  We probably made it as a special about every two weeks or so.  Every single time we made it we sold out.  Scouts honor.  The thing I want to point out to you is, this is a fantastic use for your leftover pot roast!  That's actually how the recipe came about in the first place.  My family ALWAYS has leftovers when I make a big roast.  I bet yours does, too.  We love the leftovers, but one day I was looking for something different to do with them.

This could not be easier.  I mean seriously, it's kicked up grilled cheese with shredded pot roast!  Some sliced tomatoes, a salad, some salty fries or something acidic on the side go well with it since it's pretty rich.  But this is definitely a hearty, filling sandwich!

#foodhack #leftovers #sandwich #familyfriendly 

#quick #easy #comfortfood #lunch

Ingredients:

• Cooked pot roast with gravy
• Havarti cheese 
• or another smooth melting creamy cheese
• Thick sliced white bread
• Butter for bread

Step-by-Step:

The first thing you need to do is to get your leftover pot roast and pull it apart.  I just use a couple of forks for this.  Oh, and you can save yourself some time by doing this ahead of time.  In case you are wondering, for a whole chuck roast (about 5 pounds or so), I could get about 14 - 16 sandwiches.  But of course that won't be the case with leftovers.  It will just depend on how much you have left. 

If you are going to divide the cooked roast ahead of time, you can put the measured meat into small baggies or reusable containers of about 1/4 cup each.

When ready to prepare sandwiches, butter the bread.  (Oddly enough, mayo works well for this job, too.  It creates a beautiful brown crust.)  There are only a few recipes that I use white bread for.  Grilled cheese is one of them.

Layer your bread with slices of creamy Havarti and a 1/4 cup scoop of warmed pot roast.  I like to warm it first to begin the process.  Cold meat does not lend itself well to good sandwich making when you are trying to melt cheese.

With buttered sides out, obviously, make your grilled cheese until GDB - golden brown and delicious!  - and melty!   It's best if you don't have your pan or griddle up too high for this.  A panini press will work great, too.

Let's also talk about that gravy that came with the roast.  Dip some of that out of the pot or tupperware or whatever you had it in.  Warm some up and serve some on the side for dipping.  Yes I did say that!  Not au jus.  This is full on GRAVY!  Yummm.  Everything about gravy says "comfort."
As a matter of fact, this whole lot does - toasted bread, roast, melty cheese, gravy... I bet you can just taste it now!

To have a look at the MenuMusings cookbook...
What a great gift for your senior about to graduate, those "moms" in your life for mother's day, your friends who just moved into their own apartment or house.  Each recipe with step-by-step photos and links back to the blog!

Bonus recipes - 
Individual White Chocolate and Raspberry Bread Puddings - great for a dinner party!

Pickle Brined Fried Chicken - one of my kids' favorites!  Yes it sounds weird, but tastes suspiciously like the chicken at Chick-fil-a.

Beefy Crunch Wrap Supremes - move over Taco Bell!  Call all the kids and teenagers in for this!

Overnight Stuffed French Toast Rollups - Brunch? Sleepovers?  Breakfast in bed? 😁

Puff Pastry Breakfast Pizzas - Something for everyone.  Grownups and kidlets alike. 

Easy Family Favorite Meatloaf - a good basic recipe (oh, and gluten free as well)

Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps

I KNOW you've all been there!  A beautiful day out grilling burgers with the family.  Caught up in the lovely warm Springtime weather... it's days like that that make it worthwhile.  However, you ended up making way too many burgers.  You don't want to throw them away, so you put them in the fridge wondering what to do with them.  Am a right?!

Well this is more of a "burger re-purposing" idea than a recipe.  I happened to come home for lunch one day, and saw the left-over grilled burgers in the fridge.  So I drug out the burger "fixings." As luck would have it, the buns were gone.  So..... I made myself a Grilled Cheeseburger Wrap.  Any preparation that ends up with gooey melted cheese will probably make me happy, but this was yummy!  So let's see - yummy end product, creative use of left overs, less than 10 minutes to make!

Ingredients:

Like I said, this is more of an idea than a recipe.  So for the ingredients, pull out whatever you want in the wrap.  

But here are the ingredients I used.  I'm sure there are a bazillion different combinations that you can come up with!  I didn't add lettuce into the wrap because I thought it would just wilt.  I bet you could stuff some in there after you cut it if you wanted to.

• grilled burger
• grilled onions
• grated cheese
• mozzarella
• cheddar
• BBQ sauce
• tomato slices
• flour tortillas - white or whole wheat
• butter flavored cooking spray

  
Method:

Chop the burger into small pieces.  Add all ingredients to the tortilla,  starting and ending with cheese.  Fold in the sides, then fold into a wrap.  Spray a grill pan or griddle with the cooking spray.  Add the wrap to the hot pan, seam side down to begin.  Spray the top side with the cooking spray as well.  This helps it to brown and helps the "shell" crisp up.  Press the wrap with something heavy while its "grilling" - maybe a smaller pan or even a brick covered with aluminum foil.  Turn when golden brown to grill the other side.  Don't forget the edges!  Enjoy!

Step-by-step:

All the goodies...

Cut the burger into small pieces.

Start with cheese.  Putting the cheese next to the tortilla will allow it to melt faster.

Shredded mozzarella

 Start adding your ingredients.  Whatever you want inside.

burger pieces, a little BBQ sauce

grilled onions

sliced tomatoes

shredded cheddar cheese

Fold in the edges, the roll up into a "wrap."  Wrap-n-roll!  LOL

Add the wrap to a HOT grill pan that has been sprayed with butter flavored cooking spray.  Yes, you can use a "regular" pan.  Now spray the top.  This helps it brown and crisp up.

butter flavored cooking spray

Press the wrap as you are cooking it!  Use whatever you have on hand.

Grill both sides and the edges.... and Voila!!  Here you have it!  LUNCH!

Smoky grilled burger in a bit of sauce, gooey cheese, juicy tomatoes, a crispy shell... Now you can be out the door again in no time!

 

I hope you've enjoyed this... um... idea.  (It certainly wasn't a "recipe.")  If you'd like more ideas for lunch, re-purposed leftovers, stuff from scratch, or stuff from completely home made, please visit my Recipe Index.  There are tons of ideas on there... something is sure to strike your fancy! :)

Order the Menu Musings Cookbook! 

 
Here a few more "re-purposed" ideas:

Grown up Pizza Wraps

 

Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wraps 

 Toasted Chicken Pesto Flatbread Sandwiches

 Baked Chicken Taquitos

 Left over Pot Roast Pot Pies

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Cajun Crawfish Bread

If you are not from the Gulf South part of the United States, it's very possible that you may not be familiar with crawfish... they look like small little lobster impersonators!   We are in the middle of crawfish season right now, so "crawfish boils" can be found at many a social gathering here on the "Third Coast."  Piles of ruby red crawfish, boiled in spices, dumped out into large tubs and onto newspaper lined tables, and folks standing elbow to elbow peeling and eating them as fast as possible.  This is our South! 

That said, there are some occasions where you end up with some leftovers.  So we Southerners generally peel them and put them away in the freezer to make a fabulous dish at another time.  So if you happen to be looking for something fabulous to do with your leftover crawfish tails, consider this Cajun Crawfish Bread as a great appetizer or even a small dinner.  If you don't just "happen" to have crawfish tails left over, don't fret.  You can purchase them cooked and frozen. 

This recipe is a super easy and fast way to prepare an appetizer for those unexpected guests, or perhaps you are shuttling kids between ball games, music and dance lessons, etc.  You just mix, spread, and bake until brown and bubbly and melty!  Mmmm.

Click for Printable Recipe 

Ingredients: (8 servings)

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• could also use 1/2 and 1/2 mayo and sour cream mixture
• 4 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced green onion tops
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup crawfish tails, finely chopped
• kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• 1 (16 oz) loaf French bread, cut in half lengthwise
• I also think it would be fabulous with chopped, drained artichoke hearts mixed in.  Perhaps about 1/4 cup or so.

**Watch a video of Julie cooking this on Good Morning New Orleans!

Step-by-Step:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, melted butter, mozzarella, Parmesan, green onions, and garlic powder.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 Tbsp melted butter

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup sliced green onion tops

1 tsp garlic powder

kosher salt to taste

Coarse black pepper to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese

Fold in the chopped crawfish, and season to taste with salt and pepper if you haven't already done so. 

1 cup cooked crawfish tails, chopped

If you used leftover crawfish from a crawfish boil, you may not need to add additional pepper, etc.. taste first.  If you used frozen crawfish tails from a seafood market or grocery store, you will definitely need some additional seasoning.

combine gently

Spread the crawfish mixture on the French bread, and bake for 18-20 min.

 

Tip - to make clean-up a breeze, consider baking the crawfish bread on parchment paper. 

For the last two minutes, I turned the broiler on high just to get a beautiful brown crispy edge on the bread and really toast up the cheeses in the mixture.   

 Cut into 2-inch pieces, garnish with a few more green onions, and serve while hot and "gooey." 

Tip - To reduce your prep time even further, you can make this mixture ahead of time, and refrigerated until you are ready to spread and bake it.

You may be thinking this recipe is just for grown-ups.  Don't bet on it!!! :)

Written Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, melted butter, mozzarella, Parmesan, green onions, and garlic powder.  This can be made ahead up until you spread the crawfish mixture on the bread and refrigerated until you are ready to bake it. 

Fold in the chopped crawfish, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spread the crawfish mixture on the French bread, and bake for 18-20 min.  For the last two minutes, I turned the broiler on high just to get a beautiful brown crispy edge on the bread and really toast up the cheeses in the mixture.

Cut into 2-inch pieces, garnish with a few more green onions, and serve while hot and "gooey." 





Order the Menu Musings Cookbook! 

 

Want more recipes from my blog?
If I have piqued you curiosity, please feel free to visit my Recipe Index and browse for more recipes to cook for your family.  Here are just a few to get you started:
Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

Roasted Vegetable Chicken Pot Pie

Cream Cheese Stuffed Pear Dumplings with Praline Sauce

Steamed Asian Dumplings

Carrot Souffle

Hope you have enjoyed!
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