The other day I sat down to do some menu planning, and was trying to figure out a good sandwich that we could have for dinner, that would travel well with Abigail to dance classes. We’re not big sandwich-for-dinner people, but she’d asked for a cold lunch that wouldn’t require reheating. Her favorite sandwich in the whole world is anything with bacon, and that got me thinking about BLT’s, and once that started, I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Except it’s early March, in the dead of winter, and any tomatoes that we would buy to slice and lay on a sandwich would be mealy and watery tasting. So I began thinking about ways that I could get around that insipid tomato, and I was reminded of some delicious organic heirloom cherry tomatoes I’d bought a few weeks ago. While they weren’t as good as fresh from the vine, they were a welcome taste of summer, and I decided that if I could still find those tomatoes at the store, we would have our BLT’s.
I did find the tomatoes.
Yellow Pear tomatoes, Red Pear tomatoes, and a tomato that strongly resembles the coveted Black Cherry tomato all came in our pints, and it was difficult to not just sit down and snack them away. But how to prepare these to go on a sandwich? That was the question, and the inspiration came from a bottle of balsamic vinegar.
I quartered about 2 cups of these tomatoes, and then added a mere 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. That was just enough of an addition to really brighten up these tomatoes and make them sing. They were ready for their bacon and lettuce.
I cooked up the bacon strips in the oven, and then went to the basement to harvest my lettuce. Basement? Lettuce? Oh yes, I’ve been growing a flat of mesclun under lights, and the flat is bursting with fresh green goodness. The blend of greens has been delightful in salad and on sandwiches, and would really elevate these humble winter BLT’s. In addition, I decided to swap out plain old toast for some Honey-Wheat English Muffins.
These BLT’s were amazing. There was instant regret, as I had only picked up the one package of English Muffins, so we really did have to limit the amount of sandwiches we made and ate. Of course, that was a good thing to keep us from over-indulging, but still. The tomatoes and fresh greens and salty bacon were a delightful taste of summer. These made a wonderful busy night meal, and the whole family cleaned their plates- or their lunchbox as the case may be. I really can’t recommend this enough, it was that good. And in addition, I think I discovered that I really, really like the English Muffins for BLT’s. They have long been on my list of things to learn to make, and I may just have to bump that up and give them a whirl one of these days.
