When Bread, Chocolate, Olive Oil and Salt Had A 4-Way

Of all the recipes in Amanda Hesser's "Cooking For Mr. Latte," the one I most wanted to try but the one I never--for whatever reason--attempted was her toasts with chocolate, olive oil and salt. This peculiar mix of flavors baffled me on the page, how would it taste hot out of my oven?

The recipe is simple. Cut up a baguette into thin slices. Put the slices on a cookie sheet. Top with bite-size pieces of bittersweet chocolate and put in a 350 oven (I think it's 350, you should double check that) until the chocolate melts but still holds its shape. At that point, take it out, drizzle each piece with olive oil and top with salt.

So how did it taste? The quick answer: HOT! I burned the roof of my mouth on the first bite I had and I was still feeling the pain a few days later. So definitely let it cool for a few minutes.

After it cooled, though, I really appreciated the strange alchemy at work here: four things that you wouldn't expect to go together not only go together here, they create something entirely new and enjoyable. You have the crispness of the toast, the richness of the chocolate, the greenness of the olive oil and the brightness of the salt. These four powers come together to make a snack no one can defeat, like that gang of superheros I used to watch on TV after school.

So if you have bread, chocolate, olive oil and salt lying around, why not give this a try? Your palate will thank you as long as you don't burn it.