Equal Parts

Several months ago I met an old coworker for coffee one evening. We sat outside on a porch that overlooked the parking lot of a new gourmet grocery store where, afterwards, I decided to pick up some prepared foods for dinner. There was the usual selection of salad-bar salads, bakery breads, hot and cold meats, and soups, but on a whim I grabbed something decidedly lunch-ish: a ham and cheese baguette. The bread was crusty with just one thin layer of ham, a few pieces of cheese -- not even enough to run the length of the sandwich, maybe one whole sun-dried tomato sliced and scattered, and just the slightest smear of mayonnaise. It was simply perfect.

Ham and cheese is, of course, a classic combination -- with bread or eggs or both, with mustard and crackers on a party tray, folded into a buttery buckwheat crepe, on a pizza with pineapple. But it’s the humble sandwich I return to most. As a bread lover, it allows the crusty baguette to shine, and as an economical shopper, it produces maximal bang for buck. When I first tried to replicate it at home I thought an herbed mayonnaise would amplify it a bit, but I was wrong. I’ve since backed off even further by parting ways with the sun-dried tomato. It’s the sandwich that proves the cliche: simple is best.

HAM AND CHEESE BAGUETTE

You’ll need:
1 crusty French baguette (or other rustic bread)
A few, very thinly sliced pieces of ham
A few, very thinly sliced pieces of cheese
Butter (preferably high-fat European style - I used Kerrygold)
Mayonnaise (I used Helmann’s)

Slice the baguette in half. With a light hand, spread butter on one side and mayonnaise on the other. Layer thinly the ham, followed by the cheese. Close the top, and cut yourself as long of a piece as you’d like.