grilled cheese with apple & sage hazelnut pesto

if i see one more recipe for butternut squash bisque or pumpkin bread, i'm going to scream.
oh, i have a handful of well-loved squash recipes in my arsenal. the other week i made heidi-touted butternut squash and feta savory muffins, which i could happily eat as a mid-morning snack until the cows come home. then there's the widely circulated butternut squash and chickpea salad with tahini dressing, which i plan on dusting off again this weekend. there's cathy (of not eating out in new york)'s apple cider braised kabocha squash, which i embarrassingly misaligned last winter but have not forgotten and plan on doing it justice sometime very soon. there are many pumpkin pies to be made.
it would be a far cry for me to slander the squash lovers. but we can't surrender to winter food monotony this early in the season! it is still autumn, things are still growing. i tried the best hazelnuts of my life this weekend, oregonian specimens that don't even need toasting because they're so full of an insane nutty depth that they put the dusty plastic bags of pre-chopped, sterile nut-ghosts to shame. every apple i eat is seemingly better than the last. corn is still falling from the sky, for cryin' out loud.

let's embrace them before we hunker down into our squash slumps.
note: i'm not including exact measurements because nobody needs me to tell them how to make a sandwich. the pesto is entirely personal as well: mine was fairly chunky, not strongly garlicky, with neither the sage nor the nuts overwhelming the other.
grilled cheese with apple and sage hazelnut pesto
adapted from the kitchen sink recipes
scale up or down, as you like

• good, crusty bread (kristin recommends a seeded multigrain, i used a crusty ciabatta)
• extra sharp cheddar cheese (i love kerrygold's aged cheddar here)
• sweet, crunchy apples, sliced into 16ths (i think mine were winesaps, honeycrisp or fuji are also good choices)
• hazelnuts, toasted if you like (don't bother removing the skins)
• sage
• sea salt, to taste
• 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and smashed
• olive oil
• butter, for frying

in the bowl of a food processor, combine a handful of sage, a handful of nuts and the garlic. drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. pulse until blended but still chunky, taste and adjust (you'll probably need both more olive oil and more salt). repeat until it's your desired consistency and taste--i left mine somewhat chunky for texture, but you might prefer a smoother pesto.

lay out slices of bread, roughly 1/2" thick. spread one side of each slice with butter. spread pesto on one side of every other slice of bread, top with layers of apple and cheese. close with the other slice of bread.

heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. butter well. fry sandwiches slowly--if the heat gets too high, they'll burn before the cheese melts--and flip when brown. i like to put another heavy skillet on top of them as they cook, to press them down. slice and serve immediately.