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Margherita pizza grilled cheese sandwiches

by Jeanne Horak on July 29, 2015 18 Comments in Starters & light meals, Vegetarian

Love pizza? Then you'll adore this pizza grilled cheese sandwich. All the deliciousness of pizza between 2 slices of bread :)

My colleagues tell me I am weird. Nothing truly dysfunctional, mind you – I don’t keep mice in my filing drawer (or tequila, for that matter); I don’t hum tunelessly to myself all day; and I don’t eat salt cod casserole, durian fruit or Epoisse cheese sandwiches to work. I don’t clip my nails at my desk (fingers or toes!); I don’t leave passive-aggressive notes on food in the fridge; and I don’t write ALL CAPS E-MAILS when annoyed. But I can resist temptation and keep a chocolate bar obtained mid-morning sitting on my desk until I have coffee mid-afternoon without any problems. In fact, I have been known to keep and entire slab of chocolate in my desk drawer for a week, doling it out a bit at a time to my 3 pod-mates, and never be tempted to gobble it all up when they aren’t looking. But if they were to leave a block of mature cheddar on my desk, it would be gone by noon.

When politicians suck their teeth and make concerned noises about how sugar is killing us all because it is as dangerous as crack cocaine and severe restrictions are imminent, I laugh without a care in the world. Because, you see, I am a savoury girl and my cravings very seldom extend into the sweet end of the spectrum.  Of course, I am not saying that my cravings are healthy – far from it (cheddar, mayonnaise and crisp canapé, anyone?). But when people talk about craving a chocolate hit I just don’t get it. Between a dessert and a cheeseboard, the cheeseboard wins for me every single time. So when I am feeling low and craving comfort, you’ll never find me reclining on the sofa amid a sea of chocolate wrappers and discarded ice-cream cartons – but you may well find me hiding behind a wall of pizza boxes.

 

PizzaSandwich

 

Check out the wonderful world of Pinterest and you will see I am not alone in my pizza love – there are well over 400 boards dedicated to the art of pizza (well, 400 is where I stopped counting!).  There are oceans of featherlight, crispy thin base pizzas; supersized indulgent Chicago deep-dish pizzas; mini-pizzas; giant square pizzas for sharing; pizzas with bases made of cauliflower or zucchini or beets; and even sweet dessert pizzas.  There’s also an entire culinary subculture of meals inspired by pizzas – pizza salads, dips, nachos, cones, breads and vegetables bakes.  The list is endless and in equal measures inspiring and slightly terrifying! I’m not sure I am quite ready top make a pizza in an ice-cream cone, but what I do make fairly often is a pizza-inspired cheese toastie (grilled cheese sandwich for my American readers).  The idea is simple: take the basic flavours of a margherita pizza (cheese, basil, tomato, garlic) and instead of piling them on a base, I sandwich them between two slices of bread and toast in a griddle pan.  The result is instant pizza gratification without the hassle of having to make pizza dough! So as far as I am concerned, you can keep all your chocolates and your cakes – give me pizza in any form and I will be a happy camper forever.

 

Love pizza? Then you'll adore this pizza grilled cheese sandwich. All the deliciousness of pizza between 2 slices of bread :)

 

4.8 from 4 reviews
Margherita pizza grilled cheese sandwiches
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
5 mins
Total time
15 mins
 
These margherita pizza grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect for when you need a quick and easy pizza fix but don't feel like the hassle of making pizza dough!
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Light meal
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 4 slices good bread
  • 4 Tbsp good quality chopped tinned tomatoes or passata
  • 1 large ripe tomato, sliced
  • semi-soft cheese (mozzarella, Edam, Gouda, Fontina or Provolone would all work)
  • 10 fresh basil leaves
  • dried oregano
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 Tbsp butter, softened
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Spread one side of each slice of bread with the chopped tomatoes/passata (use a thin layer only - you don't want the bread to get too soggy)
  2. Place thin slices of cheese on each slice of bread (you need some cheese on each side to make the halves stick together when the cheese melts), then cover two of the slices with tomato and basil leaves. Sprinkle dried oregano on all the slices and then sandwich together one cheese and one tomato slice to make two sandwiches.
  3. Mash together the butter and minced garlic together with salt and pepper to taste. Spread both outside surfaces of each sandwich with garlic butter.
  4. Heat a ridged cast-iron griddle pan on the stove until it is hot, then carefully place the sandwiches in the hot pan. Press down firmly with an egg lifter - you want to make sure that the two sides stick together properly. Check the underside of the sandwiches and when they have grill marks and the cheese is looking slightly melty around the crusts, flip them over and repeat on the other side.
  5. When both sides have good grill marks and the cheese is beginning to ooze out, remove from the pan, slice in half and serve immediately.
Notes
You can also spice these up by adding some slices of pepperoni or salami.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.3.3077

 

Here are some other pizza-inspire recipes from bloggers who love pizza almost as much as I do:

  • Jac’s pizza dip with cream cheese
  • Sarah’s pizza muffins
  • Nazima’s pizza nachos
  • Helen’s cheesy Margarita pizza hummus

If you enjoyed this recipe you might also want to have a look at my other recipes.  You can also find me tweeting at @cooksisterblog, snapping away on Instagram, or pinning like a pro on Pinterest.  To keep up with my latest posts, you can subscribe to my free e-mail alerts, like Cooksister on Facebook, or follow me on Bloglovin.

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  1. Okkie says

    July 29, 2015 at 11:44 am

    You really must try the sweet and salty. for your next special sandwich try honey and marmite or condensed milk dusted with biltong powder

    Reply
  2. Jo of Jo's Kitchen says

    July 29, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    I love pizza too and this is a great fast way to get your fix!

    Reply
  3. Rosa says

    July 29, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    A wonderful idea! Those gourmet grilled sandwiches look delicious.

    Chers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  4. Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says

    July 29, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    Ohhh YUM. You can’t beat a good cheesy toastie, and it looks like the tomato and basil only make it even better! So tasty, love that gooey cheese.

    Reply
  5. Bev says

    July 29, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    Yep, I love savoury things too and of course pizza !!! really one of my faves any time ! … Thanks for the easy grilled cheese recipe. Good for a Friday night after work, salad and a glass of chilled red wine … heaven.

    Thanks
    Bev
    Toronto – Canada (ex Joburg)

    Reply
  6. Herschelian says

    July 29, 2015 at 9:09 pm

    I’ve been making a similar toasted sarmie for years, it is totally satisfying!

    Like you, I’ve always been a ‘savoury’ person – when I was a child at birthday parties I would wolf down the sausage rolls not the fairy cakes.. which is just as well as after I had strokes five years ago my taste-buds were changed forever, and now I can’t bear anything sweet.
    That includes some fruits (which I loved previously), tomato ketchup and a wide range of other things. Chocolate tastes particularly foul to me now – and though I was never a chocoholic, I did enjoy Brownies, Chocolate mousse or icecream, and every so often a square or two of 70% dark chocolate – all lost to me now. Apparently I will not recover my taste for anything ‘sweet’. Hey ho! Five years now without biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolate etc – you’d think I would loose weight as a result. Alas no such luck – I blame cheese!!!

    Reply
  7. Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says

    July 29, 2015 at 10:44 pm

    Can I come out of my weird durian fruit eating corner and say – ace sandwich?

    Reply
  8. Jonker - Firefly says

    July 30, 2015 at 7:38 am

    O vrek maar dit lyk lekker. I don’t know if somebody is making food in the office downstairs but I swear I can smell that sandwich

    Reply
  9. Simone says

    July 31, 2015 at 6:12 am

    Oooo Jeanne, what are you doing to me with that first picture!!! It looks insanely good! I don’t really like pizza (unless it’s a really good one) but you can wake me up for a sandwich like this ANY time. Lol…

    Reply
  10. Sarah Maison Cupcake says

    August 4, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    I am loving your perfect chargrilled stripes on your grilled cheese pizza sandwich! Thanks for the mention 🙂

    And I can top your chocolate discipline too – my husband bought squares of dark chocolate in Brussels and hoarded them for NINE YEARS until I threw them away saying it was ridiculous to hold onto them until a nuclear strike. They were too dark for me to pilfer.

    Reply
  11. Kit says

    August 4, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    I’m a chocolate person, but this looks so delicious that I might event trade a square of chocolate for it if I got any takers.

    Reply
  12. Jacqueline Meldrum says

    August 5, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    I have a watering mouth and a grumbling stomach looking at that Jeanne. There is nothing I want to eat more right now. What is it about grilled cheese sandwiches that just call to you? They are so simple but utterly comforting.

    Reply
  13. Meeta says

    August 13, 2015 at 8:30 am

    Colleagues who bring durian to work?? Tom had a private music teacher who would clip her toe tails during their sessions – how is that for weird??
    Although I am a sweet kind of girl – I do love these kind of grilled sandwiches. They are so satisfying! xo

    Reply
  14. Kavey says

    August 17, 2015 at 6:48 am

    We do pizza sandwiches too, often in the toastie maker, with cheese, fresh tomato and pepperoni or other favourite pizza combinations! Yum!

    Reply
  15. Ren Behan says

    September 4, 2015 at 9:24 am

    Oh so good, having these for lunch today!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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