Stone Fruit Melts Recipe

In Bee Wilson’s, “Sandwich: A Global History,” the British food historian describes the melt as “A toasted sandwich filled with some kind of filling –– tuna, turkey, meat patty, etc. –– with a layer of melted cheese.” It’s an understated description for a sandwich that first became popular on American diner menus in the Twentieth Century. However, when done well, the humble melt can be more than simply satisfying; it can be a revelation.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Kendra Kolling, owner of The Farmer’s Wife, has spent the past decade elevating these griddled sandwiches to an art form. For Kolling, each melt is more than just a sandwich, it’s an edible masterpiece. Kolling first made a name for herself slinging her melts and loaded grilled cheese sandwiches at Bay Area farmers’ markets and music festivals, including Outside Lands. Despite more than her fair share of ups and downs along the way, including losing her Kenwood home during the 2017 Wine Country fires, Kolling eventually launched a brick-and-mortar cafe in Sebastopol in 2018.

Kolling’s cooking is all about simplicity and letting high-quality, mostly local, ingredients shine. Each of Kolling’s sandwiches start with really great bread (Full Circle Bakery’s organic sourdough), which she considers the blank canvas for her creations. When it comes to cheese, Kolling likes to create a complex flavor profile –– “something nutty, something sweet, and something sharp” –– by using several kinds of Cheddar. Kolling uses Dubliner Aged Cow’s Milk Cheese (something nutty), McKinley Aged Cheddar (something sharp), and Petaluma Creamery 2-year Aged White Cheddar (something sweet). “There is no wrong when you get into artisanal cheese. If you have beautiful ingredients, you’ll have a beautiful end product,” says Kolling.

Kolling’s menu showcases over a half-dozen melts, including those of the patty and tuna variety, along with some more unique creations. Her best seller, the Belly & Jelly, is stuffed with honey-lavender bacon, seasonal apricot conserve (Kolling uses one from Frog Hollow Farm), and finished with a drizzle of wildflower honey.

Another popular concoction is the Stone Fruit Melt (see recipe), which along with the aforementioned Cheddar blend, also gets a light sprinkling of earthy Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese. As for the fruit, Kolling likes the visual effect of alternating contrasting colors of what’s in season at the moment –– purple plums, white nectarines, golden peaches –– but any stone fruit will work great. If the mood strikes her, she’ll also toss on a few blueberries. “It just hits you on a gutteral level,” says Kolling. “It’s the combo of the crunch of the bread and the warm and gooey. The melt just brings you back to a good place.”

Here are some more of Kendra Kolling’s tips for achieving a perfect melt:

Don’t lather the bread with too much butter, which will make the sandwich soggy rather than golden and crunchy. Kolling suggests using about ½ tablespoon of butter (Kolling prefers salted) per bread slice. “If you can see it, you put too much on,” says Kolling.
Sourdough is the way to go: Kolling likes the tangy bread because of its sturdiness, whereas she feels that wheat bread falls apart on the griddle.
For faster, more even melting, use shredded cheese.
Use cast-iron and keep the heat on medium, keeping an eye on the bread and moving it around to avoid hot spots. This ensures that the bread is brown and crispy on the outside, but stays light and airy on the inside.
To make life easier, Kolling assembles her sandwiches directly on the griddle, starting by placing the buttered sourdough slices down first and adding the shredded cheese to each slice. Once the cheese begins to get melty and the bread starts to turn golden, she adds the rest of the fillings and closes up the sandwich
Don’t be afraid to experiment with other kinds of cheeses! “You can’t go wrong,” says Kolling. “It’s a big, wide world out there; that’s what makes a sandwich more interesting!”
If you’re looking for a drink pairing, Kolling recommends enjoying the melt with a glass of Champagne or hard apple cider.
If you don’t want to try making Kolling’s Stone Fruit Melt (see recipe below) at home, you can find her food stall at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays and at the Marin Civic Center Farmers Market on Sundays. Her cafe, located at The Barlow in Sebastopol, is open daily.

The Farmer’s Wife’s Stone Fruit Melt

Makes 2 sandwiches

2 tablespoons salted butter

4 slices sourdough bread

¼ cup apricot or other stone fruit conserve

Canola oil, as needed

8 ounces aged white cheddar, shredded

2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

1 nectarine, pitted and sliced

1 plum, pitted and sliced

1 peach, pitted and sliced

10 to 12 blueberries, optional

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon wildflower honey for drizzling

Instructions:

Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. Spread ½ tablespoon butter on 1 side of each bread slice. On the opposite side of each slice, generously spread on 1 tablespoon apricot conserve.

When the skillet is hot, lightly grease with oil. Place the bread slices, butter side down, on the skillet. (Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to work in batches.) Top each bread slice with about a ½ cup shredded Cheddar. Evenly sprinkle the blue cheese on 2 bread slices.

When the cheese has begun to melt and the bread is browned and crisp, layer 4 nectarine slices, 4 to 6 plum slices, and 4 peach slices on top of 2 of the cheese-covered bread slices. (Kolling likes to alternate different colors of fruit for more visual impact.) Dot the top of the stone fruit slices with blueberries, if using. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place remaining cheese-covered bread slices on top and let cook for another minute or so. Transfer the melts to a cutting board, drizzle with honey, lightly sprinkle with a bit more salt, and cut in half. Serve immediately.

Cooking, RecipesSarah FritscheOctober 5, 2020Blue, Cheddar