Pain et Chocolat

Out at a friend’s bar, another friend was insistent on a new menu addition - a chocolate sandwich. The only food choices were three paninis, all savory, to counterpoint the classic cocktails. Customers don’t want sweets at a bar, they want salty. The friend was incredibly tenacious, bringing it up throughout the evening at different times in the conversation. Finally, our barkeep friend put the kabosh on her nagging by declaring that if he had any chocolate at the bar, his employees would just eat it. End of conversation.

Faced with a good part of a baguette and some dark chocolate from crazy loot, I tried the much touted chocolate sandwich. Profoundly easy, it required tucking a few pieces of chocolate in a sliced baguette, and toasting it in a toaster oven for a few minutes, to melt the chocolate. The great feat in this endeavor is to wait a minute or two when it’s done to let it cool as not to burn the inside of my mouth from the molten chocolate. Outrageously good, it was not unlike what I like about grilled cheese sandwiches - crunchy on the outside, melty on the inside. Dark chocolate prevents the sandwich from being overly sweet; I think it would be a welcome complement to a Matty’s Old Fashioned.

Chocolate Sandwich

-halve a 3-inch piece of baguette lengthwise
-tuck a thin piece of dark chocolate in between the bread in a single layer
-toast for 3 minutes until chocolate melts
-wait a minute for the chocolate to cool before eating