Dining: Flavours of the melting cheese

Are you noticing a golden hue to the sunlight? We’re turning our thoughts to all the good things that come with the change in the season. A longtime cool-weather favourite is the classic grilled cheese sandwich in all its crisp, meltingly gooey varieties. These days, restaurants and at-home chefs are serving up the deeply satisfying concoction with a number of scrumptious toppings designed to pair in perfect gourmet harmony with the flavours of the bread and cheese. The sky is really the limit when it comes to devising new takes on the classic dish.
The perfect canvas for such creations is wheat bread, featuring thick, flour-dusted slices that crisp up beautifully and stand up to all of your filling choices without overpowering their flavours. It’s baked with a touch of honey, olive oil, and sea salt, but no high-fructose corn syrup, added colours or artificial flavours. A few autumn grilled cheese recipes featuring the delectable bread variety:

•Thinly sliced freshly picked apples, brie and some smoked turkey onto your bread, slathering on a bit of honey and thyme butter before your creation hits the grill or pan. The results are perfect for picnic or family lunch.

• If you’re a fan of the classic seven-layer dip (chopped layers of pepper jack cheese, refried beans, avocado, corn and pickled red onions), you’ll love this savoury concoction sprinkled with cilantro and grilled between buttered bread slices. Cook up a warm, gooey batch for the gang gathering around the TV for the next big game, or bring it to your next game-side tailgate.

• Pumpkin Mac: Whip up your favourite mac and cheese recipe, season it with pureed pumpkin, top it with gouda and meat, add slices of wheat bread and get busy grilling. The sweetness of the pumpkin balances the meat’s saltiness for a gourmet treat that may well become your family’s new favourite.

•Concoct a boo-tiful sweet-and-salty combo of brie, creamy mascarpone and chopped chocolate and peanut butter candy bars (leftover from trick-or-treating), then top the mixture with a thin layer of raspberry jam. You’ll be amazed how the flavours complement each other when melted and book-ended with warm, crisp-yet-fluffy wheat bread.

•Optimise that mouthwatering leftover turkey by spreading it with cranberry jam, sage butter and gouda slices, perfecting your dream sandwich on the griddle and enjoying every balanced, blended bite.