Today’s post is many things. It is a tribute to a wonderful trip to Spain, where I first tried this sandwich. It is an outlet to express love for delicious flavors. But most importantly, and write this down, it’s about the importance, the relief and the pure joy of having some super-simple favorites in your stash of go-to meals.
The ingredients are:
- A baguette (or similar crusty bread)
- Prosciutto (cured ham, increasingly easy to find at the grocery store or your local co-op)
- Some fancy artisan cheese
When I went to Spain with a friend just after college, and there was this one sandwich that sticks out in my memory because it was so different than any sandwich I’d ever eaten. The bread wasn’t soft, it was crusty. It was only meat and cheese, but it was absolutely delicious and satisfied my appetite completely after a long and tiring morning of sight-seeing.
I got to thinking about this sandwich last week, because I had a block of Morbier cheese in my fridge left from a wine and cheese gift basket (Amazing gift, by the way. Father-in-law NAILED IT!) I hate to “waste” fancy cheeses on recipes where the flavor will get lost among the other ingredients….enter The Sandwich.
Slice the bread. Add just a little bit of butter, and layer with thin slices of prociutto and generous slices of cheese. It sounds so simple, but can I tell you how fancy I felt eating this for lunch? Even though it took less than three minutes to put together, it tasted gourmet.
And isn’t that what mealtimes should be about? I often get caught up in long grocery lists, time-intensive recipes and the quest for complicated flavors…but let’s not forget to throw in some simple, delicious meals for good measure, no?
Tonight I came home from work exhausted and hungry. Five minutes later, I was eating this. Dinner tonight marked the third time this week I’ve had this sandwich…and I’m not sorry.
