Fresh Tart

This sandwich is so delicious it makes even gluten-free bread seem divine. Inspired by the movie Spanglish – worth seeing for a couple of killer food scenes, thanks to consulting chef Thomas Keller – it’s basically just a glorified BLT.

But I love glorified, especially when the glory is via a fried egg, and melted cheese, and harissa, and if you’re feeling particularly holy, a smear of lightly salted, smashed avocado…la la laaah! Glory all over the place.

Despite my rave about gluten-free bread, the best sandwiches are of course comprised of the best individual ingredients. They’re also about perfect timing so that the play of hot and cold, crunchy and creamy, tangy and salty and sweet and rich all come together, in every single bite, and blow your mind a little bit.

(Wow. Can you tell that I’m writing this while on vacation? I’m relaxed and apparently full of adjectives…)

I’ve been making this sandwich for years but had strayed away from it since giving up gluten almost two years ago. Big thanks to my friend Molly Herrmann for making me a similar version, on gluten-free bread, and reminding me how very much I had missed it.

Recipe for Fried Egg BLT with Harissa & Avocado at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Check out Jason Hicks' - executive chef at The Local - recipe for Fried (Green) Tomato BLTs at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.  Since green tomatoes aren't yet available in Minnesota, I substituted local hothouse tomatoes for a delicious result.

In fact, I fried up a batch of tomatoes again last night for din and topped them with the watercress tossed in bacon-maple vinaigrette from the Poached Egg, Crispy Pork Belly, & Watercress on Rice-Flour Potato Pancake with Maple Vinaigrette recipe from a couple of weeks ago.

Food blogger recipe incest.  I like it.

Happy Labor Day! Flew by, of course, as all holiday weekends do, but this one was particularly fun because my brother David was here. That meant extra hang time with Stacey and Cooper too, and as a group we had a grand old time. We pretty much just chatted, cooked, ate, and hung by the pool. Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

The foodie highlights:

• I made a tomato-goat cheese tart for a late din Friday night. Nothing more than a short-pastry crust, smeared with minced garlic, filled with tomato slices, a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and dabs of soft goat cheese. I baked until golden brown and soft, served alongside a salad, in the dark on the deck, with a glass of crisp white, and it was nice.
• Scrambling for a brunch idea Saturday morning, I innovated crepes filled with softly scrambled eggs and a "sauce" of cherry tomatoes sauteed with onions and fresh herbs. With a few slices of Nueske's Canadian bacon on the side, we were well-fortified for a day of...lying around in the sun, listening to music, reading books, and chatting. Hey, what can I say?
• Saturday night we dined deliciously at 20.21. As usual, the star was the lobster risotto with crispy spinach, I'd say one of Minneapolis' top five restaurant dishes. It hits all the notes, baby - creamy, spicy, sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy. And it's gorgeous. And delicious. Oh yeah, I already said that.
• Last night I made not just shrimp saltimbocca, but scallops saltimbocca as well, due to a bit of a screw up in purchasing frozen shrimp at Whole Foods. A tasty mistake, turns out, since Stacey, David, and I all love scallops (while John and the kids opted for shrimp). With grilled bread, topped with ricotta cheese and grilled tomatoes, we had ourselves a summer feast.
• And the wrap up today, more tomato goodness, this time in the form of post-exercise BLTs at Stacey's. Garden-ripe tomatoes and Nueske's bacon. 'Nough said.

David (pictured at right with Etta, a couple of weeks ago in Wyoming) left around 5 pm this evening, unforch totally missing the chicken I roasted tonight, whole on the grill (with my Weber poultry roaster), this time with a Mexican spin - garlic, lime, and ancho chili powder. We ate the crispity slices in warm corn tortillas alongside potatoes roasted with jalapenos, onions, and green pepper.

The End to a lovely Labor Day weekend.

Moderate it: yeah, a pretty big food weekend. I biked in the wind, walked in the heat, and most surely didn't come close to working off that lobster risotto. Good thing the weekend is done and we're back to "normal" tomorrow. Uff.

L'chaim! Yep, I get dinner out with my minxes tonight, woo hoo! We're hitting up Bar Lurcat this time, for gazpacho, mini-burgers, and those irresistible, cursed frites. I even have straight hair (for now) since I got my hair cut today - a blow out in this weather is only worth it if someone else does it. Since that happens, oh, about every 8 weeks, it's feeling a bit rare and swingy. Whee! Hey, what can I say, I measure my days in dewpoint, always have. It's a frizz thing, not a curl thing (I can handle curl, curl is cute; frizz is, uh, I'll let you fill in the alliterative blank).

Anyhow. Just quick meals lately, last night nothing more than good ol' spaghetti with meat sauce for Wild Wednesday, although I did grill thin slices of zucchini to go alongside. Way easy - brush both sides of slices with olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt, let sit a few minutes to soften, then grill away. Eat hot off the grill, as is or showered with fresh herbs, maybe even a grate of Parm. Mmmm...

Oh, speaking of zucchini, I can't forget to pick up my La Finca CSA veggies on my way to pick up the girls (Thursday is pick-up day, just a few blocks down). Maybe some tomatoes this week! I received two huge, juicy beauties as a little gift this week, OMG, so good. Nathan and I had BLTs for breakfast today, loving every juicy-crispy-salty-smoky bite. We agreed that whoever made up that blessed sandwich was a genius. So simple - which means the ingredients have to be top notch. Nueske's bacon, a garden-ripe tomato, crisp lettuce, good toasted bread, and real mayo. Oh man, pretty hard to beat.

Moderate it: BLTs don't have to be unhealthy - on whole-grain bread, easy on the mayo, two slices of well-drained bacon, heavy on garden-ripe tomato. Fabulous.