A sandwich is the quintessential meal on a warm summer day. No slaving over a hot stove or stomaching something that only raises your internal temperature. It’s also the perfect pick-me-up when you’re simply too tired to cook – you know, those days you come home from work exhausted and hungry and wish food would just appear in front of your face.
Enter this sweet and salty BLT. It’s a simple yet satisfying dish that comes together in minutes, if you prepare the individual components ahead of time. My take on this classic sandwich starts with good bread (a must for a recipe with so few ingredients): slices of homemade honey-oat pain de mie. You can use store-bought bread, but choose something that’s tight-crumbed and slightly sweet.
Then layer on the rest of the ingredients, including roasted tomatoes, apple smoked bacon, spring mix and a homemade Greek yogurt spread that keeps the sandwich light and not at all greasy.
After you build your BLT, eat it whole …
… or slice it in half for a daintier serving!
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1½ teaspoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
- 1½ teaspoons minced fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon minced fresh basil
- ½ teaspoon minced onion
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- drop of hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
- sea salt
- 4½ teaspoons vegetable oil
- 8-12 strips apple smoked bacon
- 1-2 cups spring mix
- 8 slices honey-oat pain de mie
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Place tomatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and dried thyme; toss to coat.
- Arrange tomatoes in a single layer, cut sides up, and bake for 1 hour. Let cool completely before using. (You can prepare the tomatoes a day in advance - after they've cooled, transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.)
- In a food processor, combine all ingredients and purée until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and lay bacon in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and pour off bacon grease. Bake for an additional 3-8 minutes until crisp. Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer strips to a paper-lined platter to drain and finish crisping.
- Toast bread and let cool slightly. Cover one side of each bread slice with Greek yogurt spread. Arrange roasted tomatoes on four bread slices. Arrange spring mix on remaining four bread slices, top with bacon and flip onto the tomato-topped bread slices. Cut sandwiches in half and serve immediately.
