A good sandwich is hard to find. Either the tuna salad is drowning mayo or the pastrami is dry as the Sahara. Sometimes, the bread is so hard it scrapes the roof of my mouth raw or the ground chuck in the burger is adulterated with so many adulterations, I can barely taste the ground.
There are certain sandwiches I love, but never order. Take the BLT. Relegated to diner status and truck stop coffee shops, I have always been torn with the thought of ordering this item when I knew there were other dished on the menu that were much tastier. However, sitting at home one Sunday morning, I was inspired by the wafts of morning fry ups of bacon drifting through my apartment from neighboring flats to create the best BLT. What's not to love of this basic sandwich? Get good bread, fatty smoky uncured thick sliced bacon, ripe and juicy heirloom tomatoes, homemade mayo and crisp greens. Voila.
I incorporated a few other items to make the sandwich more interesting and to give it more of a bite, but if you use good basic ingredients, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
handful of arugula, washed and air dried
a few sprigs of basil, chopped or torn
a couple of pinches of dried oregano
one medium heirloom tomato, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
salt
fresh ground pepper
white balsamic vinegar
4 slices of smoked uncured thick sliced bacon
fresh baked egg toast or bread, thick sliced and toasted
fresh mayo
half a yellow onion, sliced
refrigerated maytag or point reyes blue cheese
first, marinate the tomato slices with the basil, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil and a tiny splash of white balsamic vinegar. let it sit while you fry the bacon slices and put together the other ingredients. fry the bacon to liking, and save the oil. put the sliced onions into the bacon grease and fry until translucent. add salt and white balsamic vinegar; it should taste like warm butter pickle slices after cooking thoroughly. toast two slices of egg toast and then spread mayo over both slices. place arugula on both slices, line the bacon, stack the tomatoes, top with the onions, and finally crumble the blue cheese on top. makes two open face sandwiches or a gigantic BLT. enjoy!
