When you think of a BLT what comes to mind? The bacon? The bread? The familiarity? For me, it's all of those. Doesn't it feel like no matter how you make it, it will be awesome? Well, I have a slightly souped-up version of a BLT for you today which I call the ultimate brunch BLT. It's a bit heartier with a couple of extra ingredients and is so damn delicious. This makes for an excellent brunch selection where you can serve half sandwiches and still make other treats to eat on the side like a salad or potatoes.
All the Components of the Ultimate Brunch BLT
I'm not sure where to begin and where to place the most importance, but I'm getting really excited as I write. As you know, I tend to get excited about food. A lot. Because, you see, every ingredient is important and brings something special to the overall dish.
Fine. We'll Start with the Bread and The Bacon
I do love a good breadbox to stand on from time to time so I can wax poetic about the importance of using high quality bread. I demand it in nearly all my sandwiches or appetizers... except when I don't like with Anthony Bourdain's Macau-Style Pork Sandwich which tastes awesome on white Wonder Bread! Also, my delicious, crispy thai pork toast is another plain-old-white-bread recipe which I became obsessed with while traveling in Thailand.
However, with the ultimate brunch BLT we're going fancy again. My go-to breads are from When Pigs Fly, Iggy's Bread of the World and Nashoba Brook Bakery. Luckily, they sell Nashoba Brook's sliced french loaf at local markets here in Massachusetts. You could also easily use the sourdough from When Pig's Fly. I often prefer using the round loaf so the bread slices are the large oval shape. For this BLT its works great because I'm making two sandwiches for two very hungry people or four sandwiches that you can serve with a side of lemony herby fingerling potatoes.
I tend to use think cut bacon for everything unless it seems like it wouldn't make sense. You can cook your bacon any way you want. If you like extra crunchy bacon then you should make extra crunchy bacon! I like mine less crunchy, but that's just a preference.
Roasted Tomatoes or Tomatillos? Why not Both?!
When I set out to make this sandwich, I intended to make it with roasted red tomatoes. I love roasted tomatoes and do tend to ride in on my high horse about them almost as much as I do about high-quality bread.
Then I spotted the cutest bag of green tomatillos and decided I would give you the option (nice of me, huh?) to use either... or both for this BLT.
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Simple Steps to Roasting Tomatoes:
- Core the tomatoes. Coring tool or paring knife will work here.
- Cut tomatoes in half.
- Pull the guts out (all the seeds and goop).
- Place them in a 9x13 baking dish.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour or slightly longer if you want them charred around the edges.
Simple Steps to Roasting Tomatillos:
- Cut tomatillos in half.
- Place them in a baking dish - 9x13 or slightly smaller will work.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Why Use Iceberg When You Can Use Arugula?
I am a huge fan of arugula lettuce. I generally do not enjoy iceberg lettuce because I love darker greens. I also love the extra layer of flavor arugula brings to the table for a gourmet BLT like this one. You can use the arugula as is, but I do like to very lightly dress it with just a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. If you don't have balsamic vinegar, just use a pinch of salt instead.
Easy Steps to Making the Ultimate Brunch BLT
The Ultimate Brunch BLT
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 sandwiches 1x
Description
If you want to take your BLT to the next level, then you should definitely make this ultimate brunch BLT. It’s insanely delicious.
Ingredients
- 4-6 slices of cooked bacon
- 4 roasted tomatoes (large red slicer tomatoes)
- 11-12 small roasted tomatillos (1 small bag)
- ½ cup shredded gruyere cheese (cheddar works too)
- 2 small handfuls of arugula lettuce (regular or baby)
- Splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (toss with arugula)
- 4 slices of good French loaf or sourdough bread (round loaf)
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- 4 large eggs
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sriracha, optional topping
NOTE: Prep and cook time does not include roasting the tomatoes the day before. Ten minutes prep and 1 hour to roast tomatoes.
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Instructions
- You can roast the tomatoes the day before if you like. Your choice to go with red tomatoes AND tomatillos or one or the other. I used both.
- For the red tomatoes: remove the core of the tomatoes with a coring tool or paring knife. Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds and juices with your hands. Have a bowl ready for the seeds. Place tomatoes in a 9x13 baking dish (line with parchment paper if you have). Drizzle olive oil on tomatoes and season with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook in preheated oven at 400 degrees for one hour. Longer if you want them slightly charred around the edges. I have a video for easy roasted garlic tomatoes that you can check out of you have time. Just skip the garlic – not needed for this recipe.
- For the tomatillos: cut in half (no seed removal here) and place in a baking dish (9x13 or smaller). Use parchment if you have it. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I cooked these at the same time I cooked the red tomatoes.
- If you cooked the tomatoes and tomatillos the day before, take them out of the refrigerator and leave on counter to get them room temperature before assembling the sandwiches.
- Soften the butter on the counter too. It needs to be soft to spread on the bread later.
- At the beginning of the cooking process, cook the bacon and place on a paper towel-lined paper plate. Set the pan aside with the bacon fat. We’ll use that to cook the eggs later.
- Shred the gruyere cheese (or cheddar) and set aside.
- Grab two small handfuls of arugula lettuce (regular or baby) and put in a bowl. Drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the lettuce and toss to coat. Start with about ½ tablespoon of olive oil and a just a splash of balsamic vinegar.
- Spread the softened butter on one side of the slices of bread. We want a very thin coating of butter here – don’t over-do it. You should use high quality bread for this. A round loaf works better so you have large oval slices that fit two eggs per sandwich. French and sourdough work best for this. Whole Foods and Hannaford usually have When Pigs Fly and Nashoba Brook Bakery if you live in New England.
- While you’re buttering the bread – heat two large pans (medium heat) with a tiny amount of olive oil.
- When the pans are well heated, place the bread slices – buttered side down – into the pan. Cook until golden brown and crispy. Add the shredded gruyere or cheddar on what will be the top slice of the sandwich and let it melt.
- Once the bread is golden and crunchy, remove from the pan. Optional, but I did turn over the slices of bread without the cheese to cook for maybe a minute.
- Put the pan you cooked the bacon in back on the burner and heat the bacon fat on medium-to-high heat. Wait until the pan is hot and crack the eggs in one at a time. I break the yolks with my spatula b/c I like a mostly cooked-through yolk for sandwiches. Then spread the yolk out across the white part. My video shows this well. Once the eggs a browning a little around the edges – turn them over. They only need to cook a few seconds on the other side and they’re done. Transfer to a plate or sheet pan. Blot with paper towels if you like to get rid of some of the fat. Season with a little salt & pepper.
- Assemble sandwiches. On the bottom slice place one egg on top half of bread and one egg on bottom half of bread > place one roasted tomato slice on top of each egg > place three tomatillo slices on top of each tomato > add the bacon on top of tomatillos > then the lightly dressed arugula on top of the bacon > if you want a little spice add a light drizzle of sriracha on top of the cheese > put the tops on the sandwiches > cut in half and serve.
- Can serve two people a full sandwich each or four people a half sandwich each if you are serving with a side of potatoes. My lemony herby roasted fingerling potatoes go well with this.
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