Today at Listen and Cook headquarters it’s blue skies in every direction, but it’s always real gouda weather for grilled cheese (ba dum dum). Cheesy puns aside, there’s stiltons home chefs can learn from each of the food, bev, and community-minded audiobooks below. Listen in as veggie queen Deborah Madison reads her memoir and Priya Basil shares her reflections on food and community. Then, learn what wine pairs best with burgers and get a distilled history of the world-famous Pappy Van Winkle whiskey and the family legacy behind this liquid gold.
And this wouldn’t be Listen and Cook if we didn’t share with you this exquisite spin on grilled cheese from Eden Grinshpan’s new cookbook, Eating Out Loud. Get it all below, because you can have your cheese puns, and edam too.
Get the recipe: Pita Grilled Cheese with Gouda and Honey from Eating Out Loud: Bold Middle Eastern Flavors for All Day, Every Day by Eden Grinshpan* (also printed below).
From the author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (“The Queen of Greens,” The Washington Post), Deborah Madison’s warm, bracingly honest memoir that also gives us an insider’s look at the vegetarian movement.
A thought-provoking meditation on food, family, identity, immigration, and, most of all, hospitality–at the table and beyond–that’s part food memoir, part appeal for more authentic decency in our daily worlds, and in the world at large.
Did you know that Sancerre and Cheetos go together like milk and cookies? Based on the wildly popular Grub Street column, this is the audiobook that will teach youtThe science behind this unholy alliance, and everything else you need to create your own wine pairings for everything from popcorn to veggie burgers to General Tso’s Chicken.
The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family’s heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply.
Pita Grilled Cheese with Gouda and Honey
From Eating Out Loud: Bold Middle Eastern Flavors for All Day, Every Day by Eden Grinshpan
Serves 2
2 cups shredded Gouda
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon nigella seeds, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 Easy Peasy Pitas (page 150) or store-bought (the fluffiest you can find)
Honey, for serving
Ido and I both have really fond childhood memories of eating cheesy toasts in Israel—just toasted sesame bread topped with a mild white cheese that would get stringy and delicious. Here, I fancied it up a bit with some nigella and sesame seeds and finished it with a little honey for some of that sweet-salty goodness. But if you wanted to scrap all that and just go for cheese in a pita? No one’s gonna be mad at a grilled cheese.
1. In a medium bowl, toss together the Gouda, sesame seeds, and nigella seeds. Using a serrated knife, slice a corner off each pita and open up the pocket. If it doesn’t open easily, use a sharp knife to gently slice through the middle, creating a pocket. Butter the inside and outside of each pita and stuff them with the cheese mixture.
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Arrange the pitas in the warm skillet and press down with a spatula. Toast until the first side of the bread is lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Cut each pita in half and drizzle with honey and sprinkle over more seeds. Serve hot.
Copyright © 2020 by Eden Grinshpan. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
*Photographs Copyright © 2020 by Aubrie Pick