I’m not much of a cook.

Like most people in the city, I enjoy good food and eat out at restaurants more often than I should. But let’s face it: we have some of the best chefs in the world in our backyard, home-cooked food just doesn’t cut it.

With all this restaurant-going, the bills add up. It’s about time I learned how to cook properly, and I’m bringing you all on this ride along with me.

Each week, I’ll borrow a restaurant-style recipe from an acclaimed chef in New York City and conjure up my own version of his or her creation. It won’t be perfect — and I’ll venture to guess sometimes the results will be disastrous — but I’ll be chronicling it here for you all the same.

Here’s how it went this week…

The Sweetness

Makes one sandwich

Courtesy of Melt Shop, NYC

Ingredients

• 1 potato bun, such as Martin’s
• 3 slices muenster cheese
• 1 tbsp. cranberry jam
• ¼ cup caramelized onions
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened

For the caramelized onions:

• 1 white onion, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 ¼ tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. sherry vinegar

Directions

1. Caramelize the Onions: In a medium skillet, heat the butter and olive oil
2. When the butter melts, add the onion. Sprinkle with salt and thyme and reduce heat so onions cook slowly but do not burn
3. Flipping every 5 or so minutes, for about 20-25 minutes total.
4. After 20-25 minutes, add the sherry vinegar, stir, and cook until the vinegar evaporates, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Make the sandwich: Pre-heat another skillet over medium heat.
6. Cut the potato bun in half and flatten both sides gently. Butter each inside half of the bun and place each butter-side down on a work surface.
7. Evenly distribute 1.5 slices muenster on each side then layer about ½ tbsp. cranberry jam over each cheese-covered side.
8. Spread ¼ cup of the caramelized onions over the jam and gently close the sandwich.
9. Place it on the heated skillet, pressing the top half down with a spatula, watching closely to make sure none of the sweet ingredients leek out and burn.
10. After about 4 to 5 minutes, flip the sandwich and cook the other side, pressing down on the sandwich, until the cheese is completely melted. Cut in half and serve.

The best thing about this recipe is the combination of sweet and cheesy. At first glance, I was a bit 
skeptical about the cranberry jam. But in the end, it complemented the muenster nicely.

In terms of ingredients, I made due with what I had. I used regular white toast instead of a potato bun and substituted sherry vinegar with rice vinegar plus a little dash of sugar. The only thing I had to buy was the muenster cheese and cranberry jam. For some reason I couldn’t find cranberry jam in the regular jam aisle and ended up purchased jellied cranberry sauce in a can.

The rest of the recipe went fairly well with absolutely no complications. This made for a delicious variation on the classic grilled cheese and is a pleaser for those with a slight sweet tooth.