If I had a crystal ball when I was a child and someone would have shown me that I ended up owning a condo a few blocks from the ocean in California, I wouldn’t have believed it. If someone had shown me a vision of me making and eating a BLT sandwich, I wouldn’t have believed that either. I didn’t eat BLT sandwiches growing up. Instead I would eat a B sandwich. Really. That’s it. My mom would make me toast and slather it with butter and stick some bacon in between. That was my BLT minus the “L” and the “T” because I did not eat vegetables.
So I can honestly say this is the first BLT sandwich I’ve ever made. And the first real BLT sandwich with “L” and “T” that I’ve eaten. Vegetables began to grow on me in my late twenties and early thirties and now I like most of them but I’m still a bit picky. For example, I will eat raw carrots, not cooked. I don’t even like them in soup. I’ll omit if I can. Or I’ll chop them up really fine. I would never touch raw cauliflower or broccoli. And as long as we are on the subject of broccoli, it needs to be doused in cheese, cheese and more cheese. Butter and cream are fine too.
Most often when I eat a sandwich I still eat it plain, no lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc. If I do add vegetables it’s likely tomato, not lettuce. Unless the lettuce is arugula; then I welcome it. And as for onions I don’t care for raw ones but love caramelized onions on burgers. See how complex I am?
So I realized the other day I could make a real BLT as they are intended to be eaten because I could use arugula in place of other lettuce. Ding, ding, ding, ding! Add some peppered balsamic mayo and a star BLT sandwich was born.
ingredients.
- 4 to 6 slices thick cut hickory smoked bacon per sandwich, cooked to your liking (don’t be shy; bacon is the star of the show here)
- bread, toasted (use your favorite; I used whole wheat)
- sliced tomato
- arugula
- pepper, to taste
- mayo (I used peppered balsamic mayo)
directions.
- While toasting the bread, get your other ingredients prepared. Spread both pieces of toast with balsamic mayo. Top one slice of bread with lettuce, tomato and bacon. Season with pepper if desired. Top with the remaining slice of toast.
- Cut in half and serve immediately.
I used peppered balsamic mayo because it’s what I had on hand. I was eating it with grilled asparagus and artichoke. To make peppered balsamic mayo, mix balsamic vinaigrette, freshly cracked pepper and mayo together and let sit for a few hours so the flavors meld together. Follow your own taste preferences when mixing the mayo.
I truly believe you must use thick cut bacon when making a BLT. You should use it all the time because it’s so much better than regular bacon but if you don’t like the price and normally buy regular bacon I can sympathize. But buy thick-cut bacon for this recipe. Trust me. You’ll thank me. I am pretty sure I had about six pieces of bacon on my sandwich. I like my bacon chewy, not crispy but I won’t hold it against you if you like crispy bacon.
I was making bacon for a different recipe when I made this impromptu sandwich. Once the bacon is cooked it takes less than 5 minutes to assemble this sandwich.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 