Butternut Squash Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Caramelized Onion and Sage Butter
The Butternut Buster, the ultimate gourmet grilled cheese, is a rich, sweet combination of gruyere, fontina, prosciutto, sage butter, caramelized onions, and butternut squash. Yes, you read that correctly.
6tablespoonsfontina cheese(preferably a stinky Italian fontina)
Instructions
To make the sage butter:
Cream the salted butter with a stand mixer or electric hand beater.
Pluck leaves off sage sprigs and chop them coarsely.
Add chopped leaves to butter and mix until evenly distributed.
To make caramelized onions:
Coat a skillet with a thin layer of vegetable oil, add the diced onions and salt, and cook on medium heat, stirring regularly, until onions are fully caramelized (dark brown color, sweet smell/taste, no more liquid in the pan).
Remove onions from heat and set aside.
To make roasted butternut squash
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
Peel the skin off the squash and slice the squash into thin rounds (so you get thin squash “disks”).
Spread the squash slices onto a baking sheet with a sheet liner coated in a non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle oil over the squash and sprinkle a few pinches of salt.
Bake the squash for about 10-15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Bake until the slices are soft and darken in color to a rich orange.
Remove from oven and set aside
To assembly and cook
Preheat oven to 500°F (260°C).
Spread a thin layer of sage butter on the outer side of each of the slices of bread. Lay the bread butter-side down on a cookie surface.
Spread a thin layer of caramelized onions on the inside of one of the slices of bread. Follow with a layer of gruyere, a thin layer of prosciutto, 3 slices of roasted squash slices, and a layer of fontina cheese.
Place the other piece of buttered bread (butter-side out) on top of the layer of fontina.
Place the sandwich on a baking sheet and slide into oven. Cook for 1 minute, until top slice of bread is toasted and golden-brown. Remove the sandwich from the oven, flip it over, and bake again until the new top slice of bread is also golden-brown and all cheese is fully melted.