By Elizabeth Stark
Grilled cheese with sage and apples As a hotelier, Norman Bates was lucky to live in the days before online customer reviews, with the peeping and the audible fights with his mother and the murder and all. But even his harshest reviews would have to acknowledge the personal and almost sweet touch he showed when it came to food. Of course, everyone remembers, in the original Psycho, the scene in which Norman Bates makes Janet Leigh’s Marion a sandwich plate while she waits out a rainstorm because the scene provides the famous lines “A boy’s best friend is his mother,” and “We all go a little mad sometimes.” Less well known is the scene in Psycho II in which Norman makes Meg Tilly’s Mary a toasted cheese sandwich after she’s been thrown out of her apartment.
Inspired by both these scenes, we prepared this grilled cheese sandwich with apples and toasted sage leaves. Norman Bates may be a psycho, but his instincts in the comforting sandwich-making department are spot on. On a dreary rainy night or when you’re recovering from a setback, a warm sandwich is a quick and easy way to get your self feeling okay again (no matter what awaits you later in the evening).
More Grilled Cheese recipe:
Kicked Up Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Jalapenos
Beer Battered Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Veggie Stuffed Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Grilled Cheese with Apples and Sage Leaves
makes 1 sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 sage leaves
- 2 slices whole wheat bread
- 3 slices cheddar cheese
- 1/2 an apple, sliced thin
Directions
- In a medium skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until bubbling and fragrant. Drop in the sage leaves and cook for 30 seconds. Remove to a paper towel to cool.
- Add the bread to the skillet, cook for 1 minute, and flip. Add cheese to one of the slices, and cover with the other slice of bread. Cook for 2 minutes, flip, and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Remove from pan, open the sandwich, add the apple slices and sage, and put sandwich back together.
- Turn heat in skillet to low, place the sandwich back in, cover,
- and cook for 2 more minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted.
- Slice into triangles and serve.
