Kimchi And Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Beer, cheese, and bread are some of my favorite food and drink in the world. That’s why I was very excited when Safeway invited me to Petaluma to visit Alvarado Street Bakery and Lagunitas Brewing Company last month. It was part of my third trip this year as part of the Safeway Blogger Tour to learn more about Safeway’s Northern California vendors.

ALVARADO STREET BAKERY

We first visited Alvarado Street Bakery to see how they make and package their sliced sandwich bread. The distinguishing characteristic about Alvarado Street Bakery’s bread is that they make their loaves with sprouted organic wheat berries instead of wheat flour. The sprouting process turns wheat kernels into a plant, which allows the body to digest nutrients from the grains more easily. Then, these sprouted grains go through a large grinder, turning the sprouted kernels into a thick paste. This paste goes directly into making the bread dough. The production facility at Alvarado Street Bakery produces a lot of bread each day–about 30,000 loaves! It was fascinating to see the bread move along huge conveyor belts and tracks that wraps around the facility in a serpentine fashion. I also loved the smell of freshly baked bread hitting my nostrils when I walked past the oven. I don’t get to visit facilities like this often, so I soaked it all in like a kid visiting a museum for the first time.

LAGUNITAS BREWING COMPANY

Our final stop was at the Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Petaluma facility and taproom. When we arrived, we got there just in time to see the bottling of their popular IPA. I genuinely felt as if I had stepped onto the set of Laverne and Shirley. There were bottles of IPA as far as the eye could see. We even got to drink freshly bottled IPAs off the line! The Lagunitas taproom is known for hosting free concerts in their on-site amphitheater. It’s a great opportunity for the community to hang out and enjoy some beer and food in the evening. I was surprised that even though we visited at noon on a Wednesday, there were so many families there relaxing at the taproom. While we were at Lagunitas, we were treated to a delicious 4-course lunch and beer pairing. Each course featured bread from Alvarado Street Bakery and cheese from Tillamook: panzanella salad, bruschetta served three ways, drunken mac and cheese, and a Cuban burger. For dessert, Tillamook served up a lot of ice cream, which was a welcome treat on a warm summer’s day. I stuffed myself so much that I honestly did not eat dinner that night!

KIMCHI AND AVOCADO GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH RECIPE

Inspired by the Safeway tour, I created this kimchi and avocado grilled cheese sandwich. I know it sounds unusual to stick kimchi into a grilled cheese sandwich, but it tastes fantastic! The kimchi cuts through the richness of the cheese and avocado and it adds tangy and spicy flavors to the sandwich. Kimchi can be quite sour, so I balanced it with gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) and a bit of honey. For the bread, I used Alvarado Street Bakery’s California-Style Sprouted Bread, which is a hearty bread that packs in 6 grams of protein per slice. I absolutely loved the flavor of Tillamook’s extra sharp white cheddar cheese when I tasted it during lunch at Lagunitas, which is why I wanted to feature it in this recipe. Finally, I paired the grilled cheese sandwich with the Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher, an IPA-inspired non-alcoholic beverage. It is like drinking sparkling water flavored with hops. You can taste the slightly bitter and floral notes of the hops, but it has a light, clean finish. The Hoppy Refresher is a great complement to the strong flavors of the kimchi and gochujang in the sandwich. This kimchi and avocado grilled cheese sandwich comes together in about 15 minutes, and it is a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Hope you give it a try soon!