Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheesewith spinach and pear salad
Everyone loves a grilled cheese and this version is a Cook Smarts classic that was first featured in 2016. It always gets great reviews from our community. A fresh salad with tart vinaigrette balances out the rich flavors.
Smarts: Both the grilled cheese and salad use baby spinach so that you can buy a big bag. If you prefer different greens for the salad, any will work.
Ingredients
- Garlic - 1 clove, chopped
- Artichoke hearts, frozen or canned - 8 oz, chopped
- Cheese, shredded provolone - 6 oz (sub slices, chopped)
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Spinach, baby - 4 oz
- Mayonnaise - 3 Tbsp
- Bread, sandwich - 8 slices
- Butter - 2 Tbsp
- Pears, any variety - 1, sliced
- Mustard, Dijon - 2 tsp
- Honey - 2 tsp
- Vinegar, balsamic - 2 tsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
- Spinach, baby - 6 oz
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Garlic / Artichoke hearts / Cheese - Prep as directed. Store in separate containers. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Pears - Slice pears.
Make
- Heat a non-stick frying pan or skillet over medium-high. Add oil and garlic and artichoke hearts to heated oil. Saute until garlic is fragrant, ~1 minute. Add spinach (portion for the sandwiches) and a pinch of salt. Saute until spinach is wilted and most of the liquid has cooked off, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain off an remaining liquid.
- Transfer spinach mixture to a mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly. Stir in mayonnaise and cheese. Season with some salt and pepper, if needed.
- Wipe out pan and return it to heat.
- Assemble grilled cheese sandwiches by buttering one side of each piece of bread. Place half the slices of bread buttered-side down in hot pan. Top with spinach-artichoke filling and then add remaining bread, buttered-side up. Cook until bottom of bread is golden brown, ~3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side until filling is completely melted, ~3 minutes more.
- While sandwiches cook, whisk together mustard, honey, vinegar, and oil. Toss with pears and spinach.
- Slice sandwiches and enjoy with salad on the side.
Reviews
This meal has 51 reviews
These are a great grown up grilled cheese. Love the artichokes with the spinach.
The grilled cheeses were delicious, but the salad was just OK
Awesome on sourdough! I added some other things to salad like cucumber, avocado, celery. Yum.
Easy and delicious
It would have been helpful to chop the spinach before mixing it in with the filling - long pieces came out of our sandwiches. I decided to make tomato soup instead of the salad, which is definitely something I'd do again. I'd use less mayo next time.
Hubby doesn't even like artichokes and he thought this was good. Mayo not needed.