First, let me start by stating that ordering meals is so much more of an experience than just cooking. You see, I have been miserably single for so long. Divorced, getting older and always on the prowl for “Mr. Right”. It wasn’t until I was eating this phenomenal meal that I realized that life is so much more than what society decrees “happiness” is. I realized I was making the mistake of letting society and other people dictate my happiness. Yep, I am a crazy cat lady (and dog lady). Phew, I said it! I prefer the average animal over the average person I meet. I am THAT person at a get together that is in the corner playing with the host’s cat or dog. In meeting people, there are many out there like me.  I am also a high school science teacher, animal shelter volunteer, and hobby gardener. But I digress, so let’s start cooking!

You should definitely start by pouring your favorite glass of wine. Cooking while drinking a glass of wine is a MUST. Next, you should start playing some of your favorite tunes. Personally, I prefer the dinner party music station on Pandora to set the mood. Gather your “go to ingredients” such as salt, pepper and olive oil. I promise if I can do this with my limited cooking background……you can too!

I have learned that prepping your ingredients is key. I never cooked this way prior to ordering my meal ingredients. Also, my resume of recipes included a few recipes from my childhood, grilled cheese, lean cuisines and chili (and yes, at the age of 34 I am ashamed to admit that the occasional ramen noodle soup still finds its way to my table). Who wants to cook a restaurant-worthy meal for a table set for one? Well, I do now!

Let’s talk about this recipe in specific, Fontina and Brie grilled cheese (and we have come full circle!). Grilled cheese to me, prior to now, was nothing more than buttered white bread and a slice of Kraft American cheese. More recently, I will give myself credit for discovering the secret of using mayonnaise over butter to grill a sandwich.

Let’s start with the obvious improvement of Sourdough bread over standard white bread. If you are going to make a substantial sandwich, you need a better platform than white bread. Next, Fontina cheese and Brie over a Kraft American cheese single, this is a no-brainer. As mentioned before, grilling sandwiches with mayo over butter is a game changer.

I feel the need to divulge that my experience with figs prior to cooking this recipe was eating the rare fig newton (does that even count???).  So if you told me I would eventually make a fig compote and be grilling it on my grilled cheese, I would have called shenanigans!! Not only did it taste amazing, I was actually shoveling the leftover fig compote onto my cooked grilled cheese because I couldn’t get enough. Thank GOD there are chefs out there that exist with a much better understanding of food than me!

Lastly, my only prior experience with frisee lettuce prior to this recipe was the annoying stuff that would occasionally come in my salad that I would promptly pick out and set aside. So here I am making an entire salad with it. Admittedly, the salad was not my favorite, but was it edible and did I feel like an adult while eating it? Hell yes!

This recipe was from Plated and I am making it a personal goal to try most of the meal delivery companies out there so stay tuned!