Savory Grilled Fontina Cheese Sandwich

Fontina is a cheese that originated in the Aosta Valley in northwestern Italy. Although similar types of cheeses with the name "Fontina" have come to be produced in other countries, including in the U.S., the cheese from Italy is designated as "Fontina val d'Aosta," and it is a protected product that offers consumers the assurance that the cheese is from the designated region of Italy and produced with traditional ingredients and procedures. It is a mild cheese and it melts easily.   

 

Ingredients (per sandwich):

 

2 slices fontina cheese

2 slices bread, not too thick

1 medium garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, for the bread slices and to prepare the garlic and olives

3 to 5 olives (depending upon size), sliced 

1/2 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped (or you can use some crumbled dried rosemary)

 

Heat 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil in a small skillet over low heat. Add the minced garlic, sliced olives and chopped rosemary and saute for about 30 to 45 seconds (keep shaking the skillet). In another skillet large enough to accommodate the sandwich, heat 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add 2 slices of fontina cheese to one of the slices of bread and place the bread slice right into the hot oil. Move the bread to coat the bottom with the oil. Now spoon the garlic-olive-rosemary mixture onto the cheese and smooth it out. Put another 1/2 teaspoon olive oil onto the other slice of bread and spread it out. When the cheese shows signs of melting, put the other slice of bread in place, press down lightly, and then turn the sandwich over and let the other side brown. Both sides should be nicely browned.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Spleen-This word for one of the organs of the abdominal area goes back to an Indo European form like "splelgh/splengh," which meant "milt/slpeen." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "splḗn," with the same meaning. This was borrowed by Latin as "splen" and was taken by Latin-based Old French as "esplen." English borrowed the word circa 1300, initially as "splene/spleene" and it gradually began to replace the native English word "milt" as the name for the organ, but then "milt" saw a shift in meaning to "male fish reproductive fluid." The spleen was long believed to be the organ of anger and bad temperament; thus, the expression, "vent your spleen;" that is, "erupt in anger, or let out anger about something."