Full Coverage BLT Sandwich Solutions

Things I love about summer: longer days, warm weather, and BLT sandwiches made with garden fresh tomatoes.

The garden tomatoes aren't rolling in yet, but the sweet corn is, so I'm ready for BLT season!  The ultimate high is biting into a BLT and having the perfect amount of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.  The worst: getting to the end of the sandwich and only having lettuce and bread left.

Here's how to get every bite of your BLT full of bacon and tomato.  It's so simple--you'll be surprised you didn't think of it yourself!

The full coverage BLT sandwich.

To make your full coverage BLT, you'll need three large strips of butcher bacon, sliced in half to yield six smaller pieces.  Use the thick cut butcher kind--you'll never go back to the standard strips!  Place the three strips side by side.  Then weave the remaining three strips to create a lattice work. 

 Bacon lattice work, ready to be cooked.

To cook the bacon square, I baked in the oven on a foil lined pan for about twenty minutes at 425.  Adjust based on the thickness of your bacon.  Thin bacon will cook much faster.  The thickest of butcher slices may take more time.

While your bacon is baking, slice your tomato, toast the bread, and wash and dry the lettuce.  Assemble your sandwich so all you need is the bacon.  If you really love tomato, cut your tomato into smaller pieces and stick them in place in the mayo.  This will guarantee tomato in every bite.

Tomato lover's BLT: use the mayo to glue tomato pieces in place.  This will ensure tomato in every bite in a way that sliced tomato does not.

The finished product: a full coverage BLT sandwich.

Allrecipes Recipe Test: Mick's Thai Beef Salad

Recently, I posted about how much I dislike most of the recipes on Allrecipes.com.  The recipes that people there rate five stars baffle me.  It's a culinary wasteland of Velveeta and bland, overcooked food.  This recipe is one in a million on that site...it's actually amazing.  This recipe was absolutely fantastic with only one change to the ingredients and one change to the preparation.

Here's the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Thai-Beef-Salad/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=thai%20beef%20salad&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i1

I followed the recipe exactly, except I omitted the added sugar.  I didn't think it was necessary because the sweet chili sauce gave enough sweetness.  And anywhere you can reduce your refined sugar consumption is healthful.

In the preparation, Mick suggests cooking the steak 4-6 minutes on each side.  My steak was not thick enough to cook it this long and expect a juicy, tender medium-rare result.

You can follow along with Mick's recipe above, or here's how to make it:

You'll need:

2 green onions, chopped
1 lemon grass stalk, chopped
1c fresh cilantro
1c fresh mint (I used slightly less)
1c lime juice
1/3c fish sauce
1T sweet chili sauce (such as Mae Ploy)
Steak (I prepared one large strip steak)
1 head of leaf lettuce (I used petite Romaine), torn to bite sized pieces
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 pint Cherry tomatoes, halved
Optional: thinly slices of jalapeno or Serrano peppers


Prepare the dressing by combining the green onion, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, lime juice, fish sauce, and chili sauce in a medium bowl.  Not a small bowl--you'll be adding the steak after you cook it.

Season steak with salt and pepper and broil or grill to your desired doneness.  Allow to rest to reabsorb juices, then slice into thin strips against the grain.  Add meat to the dressing and chill for about three hours.

When ready to serve, tear the lettuce and place in bottom of bowl.  Top with cucumber slices, tomato halves, and steak and sauce.  The recipe calls for the tomato to be on top of the steak, but I actually prefer the steak and sauce on top of the tomatoes so the dressing flavors the tomatoes.  Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, and if desired, thin slices of jalapeno or Serrano peppers.  I love peppers, so I added these to give some extra heat.

The recipe did not yield 4-6 servings as Mick suggests.  This made three large entree salads.

This Thai beef salad is such a winner!

This recipe has lots of freshness, sweet heat, and juicy steak.  All winning components for me!  The lemongrass really adds a delightfully aromatic component.

This one will definitely be a favorite, just in time for summer!

Product Review: Daiya Plain Cream Cheese Style Spread

Now that I'm consuming as little dairy as possible, there are certain foods I miss.  A bagel with cream cheese is at the top of the list.  While at the Marsh near Massachusetts Avenue in Indianapolis, I was considering buying soft tofu, stirring it to break it down, and using it as cream cheese.  Then I noticed the Daiya Plain Cream Cheese Style Spread on the shelf near the vegan cheese.  It was worth a try.

I bought a single everything bagel in case the spread didn't work out, lox, capers, and a tomato.  The next morning, I eagerly awaited my non-dairy breakfast.  The first thing I noticed is that it was satisfyingly creamy and smooth as I spread it over the bagel.  The smell was not like cream cheese though--it smelled like paper.  I know that's hard to explain, but if you've been eating a sandwich wrapped in paper and grabbed a bite, it's kind of like that.  Not bad, just papery.

I assembled my smoked salmon bagel, topped it with two tomato slices, and spooned on some capers.  The presentation looked just like a bagel with ordinary cream cheese.

Lox bagel made with Daiya non-dairy cream cheese.

The taste...I had mixed feelings.  It was way too sweet.  One of the ingredients is agave nectar, and I'm not so sure it needs it.  I disassembled my bagel and sprinkled the spread liberally with salt and pepper.  At that point, it was edible but the underlying sweetness was still noticeable.

The bottom line is that this spread will work on a breakfast bagel where some sweetness will be welcome.  A Panera cinnamon crunch bagel?  That would be great.  A lox bagel or something similarly savory?  Not so much.

It's still in my fridge, but I haven't used it again. 

Easy Chicken Fresca

At my house, anything that tastes even remotely similar to a chimichurri is a huge hit.  This chicken recipe has the fresh flavors reminiscent of chimichurri, but on a weeknight schedule (no food processor or blender clean up!). The sauce isn't really a sauce or salsa, it's more of a fresh relish, so I'm calling it "fresca topping."  You can get this from ingredients to finished product in about 30 minutes, depending on the plumpness of your chicken.

You'll need:
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Lime juice
A vine ripe or Roma tomato
Parsley
Cilantro
2-4 Boneless chicken breasts
Cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Dice the tomato and sprinkle with salt.  The salt will express some of the moisture from the tomato while you finish the other fresca components.

Diced tomatoes sprinkled with salt.

Begin with 1-2-3.  Mix one tablespoon minced garlic, two tablespoons lime juice, and three tablespoons olive oil in a medium bowl.

The moisture for the topping is this 1-2-3 mixture.

Remove one to one and a half cups of cilantro leaves from the stem.  Other than cooking the chicken to a food safe temperature, this is the most important part of the recipe.  The stems are too coarse and get little hairs on them when the leaves are removed haphazardly.  These mistakes create a poor mouth-feel.  Take the time to remove the leaves cleanly.  Wash.  Then use scissors to chop up the leaves.  Pat dry and add to the 1-2-3 mixture.

Pluck each leaf of cilantro from the stem individually.

If you go to hastily, you'll end up with pieces on the leaves that feel like hair in your mouth.

Use scissors to quickly make the cilantro into small bits.

Repeat with the parsley, about half to three-quarters cup.  Wash, chop, and add to bowl.

Drain the moisture from the plate of tomatoes, add to bowl.  Add fresh black pepper and a few dashes of cayenne.  Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Finished topping.  Sit on counter at room temp to allow the flavors to marry.

Let the bowl sit at room temp while you prep the chicken.

Preheat oven to 400 and put skillet on stove on medium-high.  Add a splash of olive oil.  While skillet heats, splash chicken with lime, then sprinkle with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  When skillet is hot--a drip of water from a spoon sizzles--add the chicken.  Cook about three minutes (so meat is golden) then flip.  Cook another three minutes then transfer the whole skillet to oven.  These free-range breasts from Fresh Market were extra plump and required an additional 10 minutes in the oven, then 10 on broil.  If you have any doubts, check temp with a meat thermometer in thickest part of chicken to ensure you've reached 165.  These breasts can also be prepared on the grill.

Chicken ready to be covered to rest.  Resting lets the chicken soak up the juices and rise a few more degrees internally.

Let chicken rest a few minutes, then slice thinly.  Use the tines of a fork to guide you if you're not used to cutting thin slices.  If you're struggling, you also might need a sharper knife.

Arrange across plate and top with your fresca topping.  You can either place the fresca topping directly on the chicken, or beside it if you're not so sure how much you'll like it.  If there's any juice in the bottom of the bowl where your topping was melding together, drizzle it over the chicken to add a burst of lime freshness and moisture.

Presentation option 1: crown the chicken with the topping.

Presentation option 2: place the topping alongside the chicken.  Good for if you're not sure these flavors will be a hit.

A simple salad, brown rice, or quinoa are nice accompaniments.  Or, if you're looking for a light meal, enjoy alone so you have room for fresh fruit or sorbet for dessert.