Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A perfectly reasonable lunch

When one thinks of lunch, one of the most common foods that come to mind are sandwiches. But if you are a chocoholic like me, you will find a way to turn the most normal, accepted lunchtime staple into an opportunity for a "fix". Enter....the chocolate sandwich.

I first encountered the chocolate sandwich on vacation in Deep Creek, MD. I had never known such a creature existed, tho it makes sense, what with chocolate chip bagels, chocolate croissants, and chocolate chip pancakes invading the breakfast market, chocolate needed to get a foodhold in lunch as well. Once I tried it, I had to recreate it. After much delicate research (read doing a quick google search), I decided to make today my first attempt.

Step 1: Assemble the key ingredients: Texas Toast, Hershey Bars (or your chocolate of choice) and powdered or confectioners sugar. (You will also need a little bit of butter, but it made for a less pretty picture.)








Step 2: Butter one side of one piece of Texas Toast. Place it in a frying pan on your stove, buttered side down, but do not turn the heat on. I repeat, DO NOT TURN THE HEAT ON!








Step 3: Open one Hershey bar. Using a vegetable peeler or a cheese grater, grate or shave the chocolate into small pieces, so as to promote better melting on the sandwich. Because the candy will begin to melt in your hand, break the bar into several sections to accomplish this a little easier, and with less mess.







Step 4: Carefully arrange the chocolate pieces evenly over the piece of Texas Toast in the frying pan. Make sure no pieces of chocolate actually end up falling off of the bread into the frying pan, as these will burn during cooking.









Step 5: Butter a second piece of Texas Toast, placing it on top of the chocolate and bread in the frying pan, buttered side up. Turn the heat on medium, and watch as the sandwich begins to cook. As the butter starts to melt, and you hear a sizzling sound, carefully flip the entire sandwich to brown the alternate side. Continue flipping until both sides are a lovely golden brown.






Step 6: Once the sandwich is browned, removed from heat and place the sandwich on a plate. Allow to cool momentarily, then cut into quarters.










Step 7: Sprinkle powdered or confectioners sugar over the sandwich quarters, and serve!













So, now I get to admire and sample my own delicious homemade chocolate sandwich!




All in all, I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I personally like dark and semi sweet chocolate, and would love to try that instead of just milk chocolate. Also, I have some Nutella in my cupboard that would be good for experimentation as well. All in all, I deem the chocolate sandwich a perfectly reasonable lunch. Now, how to make chocolate acceptable for dinner?

Chocolate stew anyone?