Roasted Tomato BLTs with Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise
makes 4 sandwiches / mayonnaise recipe adapted from Alton Brown
for the sandwich
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 12-16 slices of bacon (Definitely go for 16, it’s bacon after all!)
- 8 slices of your favorite bread*, lightly toasted
- 4 leaves romaine lettuce
Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
In a medium bowl combine olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss in the cherry tomatoes, mixing until they are fully coated in the oil. Spread the tomatoes out onto a sheet pan and place in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes have begun to burst.
Allow the roasted tomatoes to cool while you prepare the other elements of the sandwich.
Reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees.
Lay the bacon out unto a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until the bacon is crisp.
Remove the bacon from the pan and place on a cooling rack, reserving the rendered bacon grease. While the bacon cools, prepare the mayonnaise.
*I used a country Italian loaf for this application, but whatever suits you best will be just fine. Just make sure that your bread is robust enough to hold up to all the yumminess that we are going to shove between it!
for the mayonnaise
- 10 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 egg yolk*
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2-2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup vegetable oil
Toss the garlic cloves in the bacon grease and bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until the cloves have softened and caramelized.
Transfer the roasted garlic to the work bowl of your food processor and pulse until the garlic is roughly pureed, but is still somewhat chunky. Add the egg yolk, sugar, vinegar, and lemon juice and pulse until well combined.
With the food processor spinning, slowly drizzle in the vegetable oil, working slowly. Once all the oil has been incorporated, removed the mayonnaise from the work bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
To assemble: Spread mayonnaise on each slice of toasted bread. Top with roasted tomatoes, bacon, and lettuce. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
*Make sure that your eggs are fresh and from a reliable source. The egg will be raw in this application, but there is nothing to be concerned about as long as you purchase fresh eggs. If you are still concerned, you can certainly use pasteurized eggs.