Mid-Week Recipe

Nothing can be better for a mid week day to cook something simple but tasty. I was craving for some food with cheese lately..I don't know why. So I was browsing around on food with cheese and found this really great recipe of "Spinach and artichoke grilled cheese sandwich" by Foodie Crush. It's raining here now in my place, and seeing the image of the food on the web makes me really hungry. I think I'm going straight to the kitchen now and make one =)

Spinach and artichoke grilled cheese sandwich

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 cup fresh spinach, chopped roughly

4-6 canned artichoke hearts in water, drained and sliced

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1/3 cup ricotta cheese

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

8 ounces mozzarella fresca (fresh mozzarella), grated

4 slices sourdough bread

4 tablespoons butter

Instructions

1. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat then add 1 clove of the sliced garlic and cook for 5-7 minutes, lowering the heat so the garlic doesn’t burn but just steeps in the garlic oil and becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a small bowl mix the ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese and mix. Add the cooled garlic olive oil and mix in.
3. Sauté the remaining garlic slices in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil for 1 minute over medium high heat. Add the chopped spinach and artichoke hearts, season with kosher salt and cook for about 4 minutes or until spinach begins to wilt. Remove from heat and cover with a lid to keep warm.
4. Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread, then stack the two buttered sides together and repeat with the other 2 slices. Sprinkle the bread with a handful of the grated fresh mozzarella, then a layer of the spinach and artichoke hearts and half of the sun dried tomatoes. Add half of the ricotta cheese mixture and top with additional mozzarella cheese.
5. Place bread, buttered side down, in a non-stick fry pan over medium-high heat. Cover with lid and let cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden.
6. Reduce heat to medium and flip sandwich to the other side and cook for 2-3 minutes or until bread is toasty golden and the cheese has melted. The second side will cook faster than the first so watch carefully. Slice in half and enjoy hot.

(image and recipe by foodiecrush.com)