Hello from Northern Minnesota where I’m very much offline and enjoying summer break! I’ve been coming to my family’s lake house here since I was born and it’s such a special place to me. The day my daughter was born, I said “I can’t wait to bring her to the lake!” It’s been a dream to see her surrounded by family, crawling around on the grass and swimming! Very wholesome! Anywho… I wanted to resurface this letter dedicated to the most delicious and iconic sandwich. Bon Appetit!
This time of year is all about simple pleasures and serving sandwiches for dinner using peak tomatoes falls squarely into that category. Plus I find it fresh and cute and charming! Don’t eat meat? tempeh bacon can be so delicious too. The main reason why I wanted to make BLT’s was so I could make some fancy mayos. Not that you really need a recipe for the most self explanatory sandwich on the planet, but here’s what I did to make it especially good.
The B: I picked up some bacon from Peads and Barnetts at the Santa Monica Farmers Market and then cooked it in the oven at 400° for about 25 mins to get it extra crispy. Next time I cook bacon, I might sprinkle some shichimi toragashi on top for a lil spice! We also had some tempeh bacon for anyone who wanted to keep it veg! One of my favorite sandwiches in the world is the TLT at Little Canal in NY, which uses tempeh so had to pay homage to them.
The L: I found some nice and crispy lettuce at SMFM but would use something that has a bit of crunch like romaine, butter leaf, little gem, or a classic iceberg. Wash, dry it, and separate into leaves.
The A: How to make a BLT even better… add avocado. Nuff said.
The T: I know I can’t shut up about tomatoes right now (see Apéro Time) but this is the moment! Did anyone else see this insanely beautiful tomato?! Wow. For your BLT, choose a few colorful heirloom tomatoes, slice them and season with salt. Very important, don’t forget the salt!
The Bread: In my opinion, the most important part of any sandwich is the bread. I envisioned nice thick slices of sourdough, so I got a loaf from Gjusta and it was exactly what I wanted. I would also enjoy a grainy sandwich bread, but that feels more lunchtime than dinnertime, know what I mean? If we’re doing sandwiches for dinner, we want to make it feel luxurious! To perfectly toast the bread, we brought out a big flat griddle, spread a light layer of mayo to both sides and let it sizzle til golden brown. I sliced the big pieces of bread in half to make it more manageable.
The Mayo(s): The actual reason this dinner came to be is that I wanted to make these bespoke mayos. Of course you can make your own mayo pretty easily, but store bought is fine :) I know everyone is obsessed with Duke’s, but I never see it in the stores here! Is it an East Coast thing? I used Suzie’s as the base for both of these and it was great! Mayo #1 was inspired by the iconic Basil Mayo by Annie Lucey. I wanted something a lil punchy so added a bunch of cilantro and a spoonful of yuzu kosho to her recipe. Turned out *chef’s kiss*!! Mayo #2 was a corn mayo I saw on Food52. Very easy to whip up and added a lot of flavor and dimension to the sandwich! Basically, you just char some corn, then roughly blend with mayo and salt. It was so good, my friend Sam ate it with a spoon. You know what could be really great is combining both of these recipes! An herby, corn mayo?! Not mad at it. BTW, I use this very handy mini food processor for these and making salsa verdes, dressings and more. Another great option is of course a spicy mayo, I usually just mix Cholula and mayo. Always bomb.
The Sides: I had grand plans of making a snap pea salad with radish, feta, mint and dill but that sounded like a hell of a lot of chopping and I wasn’t quite up for it. So instead, I was inspired by Logan and his viral cucumber salads. Because sometimes, you need to eat an entire cucumber! These are so easy to make, using a mandolin to slice the cucumber directly into a quart container, add the rest of the ingredients and shake shake shake! I made some quick pickles with cucumbers, green onion, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, gochujang, soy, rice vinegar and cannot stop eating them! The perfect side to a BLT.
The Presentation: I was toying with making everyone’s sandwich ahead of time but thought building your own would be more fun and interactive! I arranged all the fixings on two enamelware platters, the lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado on one and the bacon and perfectly toasted bread on another. Separating wet and dry ingredients is key as sogginess is the enemy of a great sandwich. Put the mayos in my trusty Porta nesting bowls and voila! Everyone got to create their perfect BLAT - mine included both mayos and two diff colors of tomatoes. Divine! A summery dinner calls for summery wine, so we served Lorenza Rosé + Picpoul Blanc ofc. I used an old Liberty x J.Crew tablecloth but this one would have been cute too!
The Dessert: The vibe of this evening low key and easy, so I outsourced dessert asked my friend Sam to bring something. She came through with mango creamsicles that were SO good and the perfect end to our meal! Popsicles are a really cute treat to bring to hosts.
We really had so much fun with this. Sometimes, a great dinner party doesn’t need to be fancy, cost a lot, or require a lot of time and planning. Go ahead and delight your friends with a last min invite for everyone’s favorite sandwich and a true summer time staple. Judging by my IG dm’s, people are gonna be jazzed. Have a fave BLT in LA? Lemme know! I want to try Breadhead’s version. Their sandwiches are bomb and the bread is amazing. Even Padma is a fan.
Thanks as always for being here. If you want to find me on IG, I’m @kissser and shop all my faves here! Happy summering and see ya soon!
XO,
Michèle
P.S. If you make a purchase using the links above, I may make a commission, thank you!
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