That's right-- The Big (Grilled) Cheese is unofficially sponsored by Ghirardelli Chocolate (and Diet Coke... seriously, I think a Diet Coke has found its way into at least one photo every week).
When I was little I only ate a few foods: hot dogs, cheese, bologna, grilled cheese, peanut butter and crackers. This probably sounds weird, but when I went over to my Granny's house I sometimes had the pleasure of enjoying a chocolate milkshake and some cheese cubes. I could never decide which flavor I liked better, so I would take a bite of cheese and immediately follow it up with some chocolate milkshake (::repeat until both were gone::). So yes, as a child I tried to find a strange way to combine chocolate and cheese. Hopefully this helps you to understand just how thrilled I am to hear that this has been done successfully (because, let's get serious, I'm not about to market that chocolate milkshake/cheese cube combo anytime soon).
So yes, long story short: I'm pumped; now let's get down to business. Where this sandwich is concerned, the chocolate filling comes in the form of Nutella. Lucky for me, Colin's roommate works at The Italian Store in Arlington and has the hook up for some genuine European Nutella (that he was kindly willing to share). Once I had that I just needed goat cheese and bread and was ready to roll!
I think this sandwich had the easiest prep yet-- it seriously took 5 minutes if that. I had an 8 ounce tube of goat cheese, so I eyeballed it and cut off about half to use.
To that I added 8 tablespoons (or 1/2 cup) of Nutella.
And stirred this until the two were thoroughly mixed into a paste.
With that, the prep was done! Seriously, easy cheesy.
The recipe called for 1/4" thick country white bread, which I took to mean white bread that's a little more rustic than your standard Wonder bread. I got a thin loaf of "batard bread" from Wegmans. The bread looked similar to a baguette or loaf of French bread, but was softer. One neat thing about this bread was that it allowed me to make several smaller bite sized sandwiches instead of one big one. I think this would prove useful if you ever use this recipe for a party or something-- it would be a fun dessert that's easy for everyone to grab! But I digress :-)
As always I buttered one side of the bread and then slathered the other side with the goat cheese/Nutella paste. GGC advised to not put on a layer that's greater than 1/4" thick or the filling will spill out during cooking.
Apparently I didn't read the recipe very closely last night because it also advises you to cut off the crusts so that the bread pinches together and creates a seal-- oopse! Oh well. After topping the sandwich with another slice of buttered bread, into the pan it went!
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| Look how cute and small it is! |
Towards the end I started getting more liberal with the application of the Nutella paste because I found that it wasn't really oozing in the sandwich like I had expected it to (I now realize this was probably due to the fact that I didn't cut the crusts off-- oh well)! Once I started adding more, there was definitely an ooze factor, but in a way that made it look delicious!
I ended up making 9 small sandwiches, all of which looked like perfect little bite sized treats!
Taste Review:
We could definitely smell the chocolate aroma before taking a bite. And, having sampled the Nutella mixture during the cooking process, I knew it was going to be good! In the first bite I got a strong and rich chocolate flavor. Yum yum! GGC compares the flavor to chocolate-hazelnut cheesecake, and I can see where someone would think that. The advantage here is that you get the rich chocolatey taste, but still have a nice crispy crunch thanks to the bread.
I thought the inside would be very runny, but I think the goat cheese acts as a thickening agent because rather than being runny the filling is more clumpy-- if pieces come out of the sandwich they fall in little clumps rather than running out. This is actually pretty handy as it keeps the overall mess factor down.
Speaking of the goat cheese, even though I was initially skeptical about combining it with chocolate, I was impressed with the way the goat cheese and Nutella interacted flavor-wise. You know how when you're eating goat cheese you sort of get that little twinge in the back of your mouth? It's not quite bitter, but is definitely making its presence known? Well, this quality comes in handy by not letting the sweetness of the Nutella overpower the sandwich. After you taste the initial sweetness of the chocolate you get a little tartness to keep the sweetness in check. This is nice since it means the flavors are rich without being sickening.
Colin wondered how it would taste with a sweeter cheese like cream cheese, but I said that would basically just be cheesecake on bread. He seemed excited by this prospect, but I like the idea of sticking with something a little different like the goat cheese. Speaking of Colin, I'm sure it goes without saying that ketchup was not even a consideration for this sandwich.
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich: | Chocolate-Hazelnut Goat Cheese Melt |
Gooey-ness: | 4 |
Aroma: | <><><>2 |
Appearance: | Perfectly bite-sized with delicious crispy exterior. |
Taste: | B+ |
Gooey Scale | Aroma Scale |
| 1 = still cold/hard | 1 = can’t smell a thing |
| 2 = slightly melted but still firm | 2 = tender waft |
| 3 = melted evenly | 3 = makes your stomach growl |
| 4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) | 4 = strong scent |
| 5 = runny | 5 = overpoweringly pungent |
| 6 = sloppy mess! |
Overall I'm very pleased with my first sweet grilled cheese creation. Anytime I can combine chocolate and cheese in a way that actually tastes good I'm a happy camper :-)
Next Week: Back to meaty grilled cheeses with a classic Reuben
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