A Very Guiness Corned Beef Grilled Cheese #Recipe - May Crazy Cooking Challenge

This month the Crazy Cooking Challenge tackled a childhood classic, the grilled cheese sandwich.

Crazy Cooking Challenge #9: Grilled Cheese

classic Of course, being a crazy cooking challenge I wanted to find a more grown up version. Something different, something my husband and I would get excited to eat - how about a grilled cheese sandwich with Guinness Beer Bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese and Guinness caramelized onions?

Oh, yes please!

This beauty is the brain child of Kevin from Closet Cooking. Tired of culinary monotony, he dove into cooking with a gusto and found a true passion for food. Now he stays busy in his closet sized kitchen and blogs about his journey. Oh, and he has an amazing list of other grilled cheese twists and more recently a line-up of Cinco de Mayo dishes.

I adore corned beef, but rarely have an excuse to make it outside of St. Patrick's Day. This was my chance to tuck in for a second time in about a month. I was not complaining!

The only thing is I knew I had to change the original rye bread from the beginning. My husband is not a fan and I didn't want to be stuck with a whole loaf to eat myself. I thought long and hard about what kind of bread would pair well with this sandwich... *forehead slap* of course! Already having the remainder of a 6-pack of Guinness handy I might as well create a beer bread.

Ta-da!

Beer bread, if you haven't had the pleasure, is actually a mild and rather sweet loaf of bread. It would be delightful for a plain-old grilled cheese, but in this masterpiece it plays the perfect part. Well, the wrapper for all the ooey-gooey goodness packed inside!

A Very Guinness Corned Beef Grilled Cheese
adapted from closetcooking.com


You Will Need:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 medium onions, sliced thin*
• 1 cup Guinness
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon butter or mayo*, room temperature
• 2 slices Guinness Beer Bread, lightly toasted* (see recipe below)
• Grated Swiss Cheese*
• 2 ounces cooked corned beef (prepare as directed on the package), sliced thin

*denotes a change from the original recipe

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-low heat.
2. Add the onions and saute until tender and they begin to caramelize.
3. Add 1/4 cup Guinness , cover and simmer until the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 15 minutes and repeat till all the Guinness has been absorbed. Remove from the heat.
4. Mix in the Worcestershire sauce and mustard.
5. Heat a cast iron skillet and sandwich press over medium heat.
6. Spread butter or mayo over the bread slice. Grill till golden, Then flip and top with cheese on both slices. On one slice add the corned beef, and onions. Put the other slice of bread on top and use a sandwich press to smash it down and heat it through. This is optional but it makes for an amazing grilled cheese sandwich.
7. Cook until the outside is golden brown, carefully flip if necessary. Enjoy!

Guinness Beer Bread

You Will Need:

1 1/2 c. room temperature beer (let it sit and go flat for a few hours)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

3 1/2 c. AP flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. SAF yeast

Refer to your bread machine instructions for ingredient order. This is for a 2-lb loaf. Set the crust setting to dark for a regular loaf.

Check out the other amazing sandwiches these bloggers have come up with: