blt with egg.

In my home growing up, we ate this sandwich at least once a week for every summer I can remember.  Fresh tomatoes from the garden, crispy bacon and fried egg - it is such a good combination!  If you have never made a blt with egg, you gotta try it! 

Makes 4 sandwiches.

8 pieces toasted bread (i used sourdough this time, but love it on potato bread and whole wheat, too)

8 strips of bacon*

4 - 8 pieces lettuce (romaine, iceberg, butter lettuce or whatever you like)

8 slices of tomato (fresh from your garden or on the vine)

4 eggs, fried over easy

4 slices cheese, optional (cheddar, american or whatever you like)

mayo

salt and pepper

*I'm terrible at frying bacon.  I always burn it.  So I have begun to cook bacon in the oven.  Preheat your oven to 350.  On a cookie sheet place a cookie cooling rack.  Place defrosted strips of bacon on the cooling rack.  8 strips should fit if you put them close together.  Be carefully not to overlap the bacon though.  They need to cook for 20 minutes in the oven, flip the strips after 10 minutes.  After 20 minutes at 350 degrees, preheat the broiler and adjust the oven rack to the highest position.  The bacon goes under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes.  This makes the bacon a little crispy.  The nicest thing about cooking bacon on a cooling rack is that the grease drains off the bacon and into the bottom of cookie sheet.  

Fry (or oven bake) 8 pieces of bacon.  Remove the grease from the pan.  If you wish to fry your eggs in the bacon grease, leave about 1 tablespoon.  Fry 4 eggs over easy.  If you oven baked your bacon or don't wish to cook your eggs in bacon grease, you will need to add a little cooking spray or olive oil to your frying pan to get started.  Fry eggs over medium heat.  Crack 2 eggs into the pan on opposite sides.  Salt and pepper the egg.  Cook until the white appears solid- 3 to 4 minutes.  Carefully flip the eggs so that the yolk does not break.  Cook for another minute or two.  Choose your cheese, optional.  If you want your cheese a little melty, put a slice of cheese on each egg in the last minute of the cooking time.  After removing the egg from the pan, while you are assembling your other ingredients, cover the eggs topped with cheese with foil.  If you want egg on your sandwich, but hate the idea of runny egg yolk, then completely fry your egg until the yolk is cooked through.  Get your other ingredients ready - toast bread of your choice.  Wash 4 to 8 pieces lettuce of your choice. Wash and slice the tomatoes.  You'll need your mayo and a knife for spreading.

Assemble your sandwich:  Spread mayo on four slices of toasted bread.  You can salt and pepper the mayo if you forgot to salt and pepper the egg or if you just like a lot of salt and pepper.  Add two slices of tomato to each slice of bread with mayo on it.  To each sandwich, add two strips of bacon- you can break each strip so that it fits on the sandwich nicely.  Carefully add the fried egg over easy on top of the bacon.  Add the lettuce pieces.  Top with other slice of toasted bread.  With a knife cut right through the middle of your blt with egg and possibly cheese and enjoy!

xx.

val