Recipe #3: Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Avocado

Recipe #3: Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Avocado

Posted by Unknown

I choose pepper bacon, Beecher’s Flagship cheese, and rustic potato bread for this sandwich. The grilled cheese from Dahlia is one hunk of cheesy bliss. My plan is only to consume a half of sandwich with the soup – as long as I can make it as cheesy as Dahlia’s this should be plenty for dinner. My husband on the other hand will enjoy a whole sandwich.

The result: Close… but no cigar. What I will do differently next time is buy a loaf that has more height and cut the slices just a smidge smaller. I will also add more cheese and then cook the sandwich on low with a lid on the pan. Typically that is how I always make grilled cheese but I accidentally turned the wrong burner up and it cooked the sandwich to quickly which did not help the cheese melt. It certainly wasn’t inedible as I ended up eating a whole sandwich.


For full recipe: See page 344 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook

Recipe #2: Tom’s Tasty Tomato Soup with Brown Butter Croutons

Recipe #2: Tom’s Tasty Tomato Soup with Brown Butter Croutons

Posted by Unknown

It’s a rainy Sunday morning in December and I am so excited to make the tomato soup today. Honestly I have never been a tomato soup fan until I had this particular one from the Dahlia Bakery. It was a fan favorite at my work and my co-workers and I would walk a couple measly blocks to warm our tummies with this hearty delight. I ate the soup in the following way - I eat about half the cup and then I tear off a piece of the roll that comes with the soup and dip it in. If everything goes smoothly I have finished the soup at the same time as the roll.  

For the croutons I ended up using about 6 slices of bread (rustic potato). I counted out around 30ish croutons just to make sure I was using the proper amount of butter.  Investing in the oven thermometer paid off (my oven was about 60 degrees off) and the croutons cooked perfectly at 20 minutes. I forgot to stir and they still turned out great (stirring occasionally would have made the appear more evenly toasted so I will do this for sure next time).

For the soup - after I sautéed the onions and garlic I added the tomatoes and rest of ingredients one by one, stirring after each addition (something I learned in culinary school). I also rubbed the oregano between my hands over the sauce to break up the herbs. That probably wasn’t necessary since it will all end up in the blender but something I learned in school as well and has become a habit. The soup is simmering on the stove as I type this and smells SO GOOD!

After I blended the soup completely I went back through the bowl of soup with a slotted spoon and put the chunks I missed back in the blender. I made the soup around 3pm and brought to room temp and then placed in the fridge in a covered container. I am hoping when reheating for dinner it will taste just as good. My experience with soups and sauces is that they are always better the next day as they flavors continue to develop.

The result: NAILED IT! I would even go as far to say that if I blindfolded someone they would not be able to tell the difference between the one I made and the one that is served at the bakery. My husband went back for seconds.

For full recipe: See page 342 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook