Gravel & Dine

Eating & growing up down a gravel road

  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
      • Dips
    • Breakfast
    • DIY
    • Drinks
    • Freezer Meals
    • Grilling
    • How To
    • Main Dishes
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • FIsh/Seafood
      • Meatless
      • Pasta
      • Pizza
      • Pork
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches, Burgers & Wraps
    • Sauce, Dressings & Dips
      • Dips
      • Dressing
      • Sauce
    • Sides
    • Slow Cooker
    • Soups
    • Sweets
      • Cookies & Bars
      • Desserts
      • Ice cream
      • Pies
    • Veggies
    • Wild Game
  • About Us
    • About Dana
    • About Tory
  • Contact Us

Pear and Fontina Grilled Cheese

September 14, 2016 by Dana Leave a Comment

This time of year you can find lugs of fresh pears ripe and ready for canning.  I only know that term because we’ve purchased them in years past and brought them home for my mother-in-law to can when she wasn’t able to get them in our hometown.  Although you can usually find them year round, this is the best time to get pears.  And when you’re looking for a simple meal, adding sliced pears to a grilled cheese can really class it up.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-1

Pinterest and food blogs are full of so many interesting ideas and ways to make a grilled cheese sandwich.  From jalapeno popper to buffalo chicken to apple.  Well, why not pears?  Honestly, I probably saw the idea somewhere – although I don’t remember where and can’t find it saved to my Pinterest account.   Sometimes, I truly feel there are no or at least few truly new ideas out there. Either way, someway, somehow I decided to make a pear grilled cheese. I chose fontina for the cheese because it is smooth and creamy and melts beautifully.  Monterrey jack would also work really well.  A nice multi-grain bread will contribute a nuttiness to the sandwich that is the perfect balance to the sweet and juicy pear.

Here’s what you need:

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-2

Plus butter, of course you need butter for a grilled cheese.  Because we’re going to start by buttering one side of each piece of bread.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-3

Now to prevent your counter from getting full of butter when you need to build the sandwich on the inside, use the classic grilled cheese trick of stacking the bread, butter side in.  That leaves you with the non-buttered side up which you can cover generously with grated fontina cheese.   The cheese doesn’t have to be grated, I just couldn’t find a chunk that was a conducive shape for slicing.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-4

And the star of the show is going to be quarter inch or so thick slices of juicy ripe pears.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-5

Now top the pears with some more fontina cheese, so it can glue the pears to the bread as it cooks.  And pick up the top slice of bread that’s loaded with all the cheesy and pear goodness and place it into a nonstick pan that’s been preheated over medium-low heat.  Normally, I would cook grilled cheese over medium heat, but I wanted to cook this a little slower to allow the pear to soften just a bit and warm up as the cheese melts and the bread toasts.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-6

Place the second slice of bread and put it on the sandwich butter side up.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-7

After about 3-5 minutes (depending on just how hot you have your stove), once the bottom slice of bread gets a nice golden color (you can peak by lifting a corner gently with your spatula), flip the sandwich over to cook the other side.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-8

Cook for another 3 minutes until the second side is equally golden (the 2nd side usually goes a bit faster for me).   Remove from the plan, cut the sandwich in half and serve.

Pear-and-Fontina-Grilled-Cheese-9

Enjoy!

Pear and Fontina Grilled Cheese
 
Print
Prep time
5 mins
Cook time
8 mins
Total time
13 mins
 
A classic grilled cheese gets classed up with creamy, melty fontina and sweet, juicy pear. Amounts are approximate and will vary based on the size of your bread, a little more cheese never hurt anybody!
Author: Gravel & Dine
Recipe type: Sandwiches, Burgers, & Wraps
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 2 slices multi-grain bread
  • 1 T butter, softened
  • ½ c grated fontina
  • 1 ripe pear, sliced into ¼ inch slices
Instructions
  1. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat.
  2. Butter on side of each slice of bread and stack together butter side in.
  3. Sprinkle half of the cheese onto the bread.
  4. Lay on a single layer of pears.
  5. Top with the remaining cheese in an even layer.
  6. Pick up the top slice of bread and place the sandwich in the preheated skillet, butter side down. Top with remaining piece of bread, butter side up.
  7. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the bread is golden brown.
  8. Carefully flip and cook for approximately another 3 minutes until the second side is golden brown.
  9. Remove from pan. Slice and eat.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.5.3208

 

Related

Filed Under: Meatless, Sandwiches, Burgers & Wraps Tagged With: fontina, grilled cheese, meatless, pear

« Creamy Sweet Corn and Roasted Poblano Chowder
Almond Meltaways »

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow us on Pinterest

Gravel & Dine

Search Gravel & Dine

Recipes by Category

Subscribe to Gravel & Dine

Enter your email address to subscribe receive emails for each new post.

Connect with Dana & Tory

We’re two sisters whose story began at the end of a gravel road in Northern MN. We love to cook, share new recipes with each other, and are excited to share what we love to cook with you!

Hey, It's Tory! I've somewhat recently decided that cooking my own food is fun and can be healthier. I'm hoping this blog will inspire me to create healthy, tasty dishes! Learn More…

Hi! I'm Dana! I love being in the kitchen trying new recipes or perfecting old favorites. I am the chef of our hunting camps but am known for my cookies as much as my food! Learn More…

Recent Recipes

Beef Tallow

Smoked Brisket

High Protein Mac-n-Cheese

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Connect

Welcome to Gravel & Dine! We're two sisters who would love to share with you our love of cooking that started down a gravel road in Northern MN. We love easy weeknight meals, trying new things, and cooking for the people we love! Read More…

Most Popular Recipes

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress