Mascarpone, Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Grilled Cheese
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A few weeks back, whilst preaching the virtues of National Grilled Cheese Day, I was asked by a good friend if I would be willing to accept grilled cheese challenges. Being the man of intrigue and general good character that I am, I agreed (with unwritted the caveat that any suggestions had to be both edible and legally obtainable), and was immediately given two initial suggestions: strawberries and dragon fruit; here I'm tackling the first of these two.
Despite what your natural intuition may be telling you, strawberries actually pair well with a variety of cheeses. As an example, berries in general (strawberries included) pair particularly well with rich, creamy cheeses such as brie; their sharp edge acts as a palette cleanser between each bite, allowing you to enjoy both the richness of the cheese and the sweetness of the fruit without it clashing. In the end I decided to take inspiration from a classic cheesecake combination and went with the trio of mascarpone, strawberry and dark chocolate for this creation.
As combinations go, this is certainly one that I've seen tried elsewhere before. In most versions I've seen, the role of the chocolate is handled by the creation of a chocolate sauce (typically using a milk chocolate and cream); I wanted to keep things more raw, and by going with a dark chocolate and mixing it directly into the mascarpone it adds a bitterness that offsets the fruity sweetness coming from the strawberry. One thing I didn't add, simply as I didn't have any to hand, would have been a little vanilla extract; this should help round out the flavour a little, bringing everything nicely together. For my bread choice, I kept with the fact that this is ultimately a dessert-based grilled cheese and opted to use raisin bread, though something like a fruit loaf would have worked equally as well.
Combine everything together and you get something that tastes, well, like cheesecake. It's perhaps a little unsurprising, but given the original inspiration that was kind of the point. And anyway, who doesn't like cheesecake?
Mascarpone, Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Grilled Cheese
Serves: 2 People
Mascarpone, strawberry and dark chocolate on raisin bread.
Ingredients
- 4 Slices Raisin Bread
- 140g Mascarpone
- 4 Large Strawberries
- 20g Dark Chocolate
- A Knob of Butter
Instructions
- Remove the calyx (leafy part) from each of the strawberries, and dice into pieces about 5mm across.
- Finely grate the dark chocolate.
- Mix the mascarpone, straberry and chocolate in a small bowl. The resulting mixture should slightly resemble breadcrumb ice cream.
- Heat a skillet to a low temperature, and add the knob of butter.
- Place all 4 slices of bread in the skillet and grill lightly for a minute or two. These will act as the inside faces of each sandwich.
- Turn over all four slices, then spoon half each of the mascarpone, strawberry and chocolate mixture onto two of the slices.
- Flip the remaining two slices on top then continue to grill, turning the entire sandwich over periodically until both sides are a golden brown colour.
Notes & Tips
If you're using a particularly dark chocolate (eg: 90% upwards), you can reduce the amount to just 15g or even 10g to avoid it becoming overpowering. Alternatively, if you want an even sweeter variation you can go for milk or white chocolate, or possible even a strawberry flavoured chocolate if you can source one. Instead of rasin bread, something like a fruit loaf can also be used; anything sweet and light will work. If you're feeling experimental, try adding a touch of vanilla extract to the mascarpone, straberry and chocolate mixture to help bring the flavour together.
